Washington Highlights: April 28,
2006
Contents
Prior Issues
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VA Research Letter Unveiled at Senate Committee
Hearing
The Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs April 27 held a hearing
entitled "VA Research: Investing Today to Guide Tomorrow's
Treatment." At the hearing Chairman Larry Craig (R-Idaho) announced
that he and Ranking Member Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), along with 60
additional co-signers, had sent a Dear
Colleague letter to Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) and
Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), the Chair and Ranking Member of the
Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans
Affairs. The letter urges the appropriators to increase FY 2007
funding for the VA Medical and Prosthetics Research program to $432
million, a $20 million (4.9 percent) increase over FY 2006. The
Friends of VA Medical Care and Health Research (FOVA) submitted
testimony
on the role of VA Research in the recruitment of physicians and
on the FY 2007 appropriations, recommending $460 million for the
VA Research program.
Undersecretary for Health Jonathan Perlin, M.D., Ph.D., and Chief
Research and Development Officer Joel Kupersmith, M.D., testified
on behalf of the Department of Veterans Affairs and lauded the long
standing affiliations between the VA and academic institutions.
A second panel of VA investigators echoed the praise of VA-academic
collaborations and stressed the importance of additional VA funding
for research and facilities improvement to sustain these essential
affiliations.
Information:
Matthew Shick, Senior Legislative Analyst
AAMC Government Relations
mshick@aamc.org
(202) 862-6116
AAMC Comments on HHS Financial Aid Guidelines
The AAMC April 28 sent a letter
to Elizabeth M. Duke, Ph.D., administrator of the Health Resources
and Services Administration (HRSA), recommending the eligibility
requirements for all Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
loan programs be amended to allow for the waiver of parental financial
information in extraordinary circumstances. The letter states, "As
the administrators of these loans, financial aid officers have first-hand
knowledge of the operation of these programs and of the students
who participate in them. Considering this familiarity and expertise,
financial aid officers' professional discretion is the best tool
to evaluate a student's financial situation."
Information:
Matthew Shick, Senior Legislative Analyst
AAMC Government Relations
mshick@aamc.org
(202) 862-6116
Budget Resolution Still Stalled in House
House GOP leaders spent the first week back in Washington following
the April recess attempting to negotiate a deal on the FY 2007 budget
resolution (H.Con.Res.
376). Leaders were working to resolve differences between Republicans
on earmark rules, emergency spending restrictions and the level
of spending on domestic programs.
Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee began to make plans
to move forward with the FY 2007 spending bills without a budget
deal. Congressional sources have indicated that a "deeming
resolution" capping discretionary spending at $873 billion
most likely will be attached to the first bill the House Appropriations
Committee considers. An $873 billion spending cap would equal the
President's budget request as recalculated by the Congressional
Budget Office.
The conservative Republican Study Committee has indicated it will
not support a budget plan that calls for than $873 billion in discretionary
spending. This means that even if the House passes a budget resolution,
it will have a difficult time reconciling it with the version (S.Con.Res.
83) passed by the Senate on March 16, which in effect includes
an additional $16 billion in discretionary spending.
The House Appropriations Committee has released a tentative schedule
for consideration of the FY 2007 appropriations bills at the subcommittee
and committee levels and on the House floor. The schedule calls
for the House to pass all appropriations bills by the July 4th recess.
Subcommittee mark-ups of individual bills are set to begin the week
of May 1, and the full committee is scheduled to approve the 302(b)
subcommittee allocations on May 9, when it also considers its first
bill, agriculture appropriations.
The Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee is scheduled to mark up its
FY 2007 bill on June 7, with full committee action on June 13, and
floor consideration tentatively for June 21.
Information:
Dave Moore, Senior Director
AAMC Government Relations
dbmoore@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
HHS Announces Status of Medicaid DSH Proposed
Rule
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced April
24 in its Semi-Annual Agenda (71
Fed. Reg. 22538) that final action on an August 26, 2005, proposed
rule establishing new reporting and auditing requirements for state
disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments is scheduled for
January 1, 2007.
Under the proposed rule (70
Fed. Reg. 50262), states would have to provide the following
information for each DSH hospital: Medicaid inpatient utilization
rates; low income utilization rates; supplemental/enhanced Medicaid
payments; indigent care revenues; transfers between the hospital
and state/local government entities as a precondition to receiving
Medicaid patients; and uncompensated care costs. The AAMC submitted
an October 24, 2005, comment letter
that highlighted deficiencies in the proposed rule that would have
a serious detrimental impact on Medicaid DSH hospitals.
Information:
Christiane Mitchell, Senior Legislative Analyst
AAMC Government Relations
cmitchell@aamc.org
(202) 828-0526
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