Washington Highlights: July 28,
2006
Contents
Prior Issues
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CMS Responds to Senate Inpatient Rule Request
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator
Mark McClellan July 20 sent Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) a response
to the July 12 bipartisan Senate sign-on letter
urging a delay of the FY 2007 inpatient proposed rule [see Washington
Highlights July 21]. In
the letter, Administrator McClellan confirms that the final rule
will be published Aug. 1. He also states that the rule "will
reflect modifications as appropriate to achieve the goal of smooth
and effective implementation, based on our thorough review and analysis
of these comments."
According to McClellan, the public comment period for the inpatient
proposed rule "generated many constructive comments...on how
the recommended reforms can be improved, what transition steps are
needed to avoid any disruptions from sudden changes in the payment
system, and what steps can be taken to limit any potential short-term
impact of the proposal."
Information:
Christiane Mitchell, Senior Legislative Analyst
AAMC Government Relations
cmitchell@aamc.org
(202) 828-0526
Senators Urge Leadership to Address Physician Payment
Cuts
Eighty Senators, including 37 Republicans, signed a July 17 letter
to Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Minority Leader Harry
Reid (D-N.V.), urging them to address projected cuts in Medicare
physician payments. According to the letter, the Senate should address
the issue before adjournment in October.
The letter, which was circulated by Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and
Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), states that "at a minimum, we must
provide...a positive Medicare update for 2007." Calling physicians
the "foundation of the American health-care system," the
letter asks for a "stable payment structure."
Information:
Christiane Mitchell, Senior Legislative Analyst
AAMC Government Relations
cmitchell@aamc.org
(202) 828-0526
NIH IDeA Program Holds First National Symposium
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Institutional Development
Award (IDeA) program held its first national symposium
July 20-22 in Washington, DC. The symposium presented and exhibited
a range of research projects supported by IDeA, which is designed
specifically to broaden the geographic distribution of NIH-supported
research, and to build capacity for health research and training
in states that traditionally receive a relatively small share of
NIH's overall support.
Twenty-three states and Puerto Rico are eligible for the program,
which is managed by NIH's National Center for Research Resources
(NCRR). While IDeA began as a modest program in 1993, with approximately
a $10 million annual budget, it expanded substantially beginning
in 1999, now exceeding $220 million per year. The program's two
major focuses are to support development of comprehensive, often
multi-disciplinary research centers and the formation of state-wide
research and education networks.
In their opening addresses to the symposium, NIH Director Elias
Zerhouni, M.D., NCRR Acting Director Barbara Alving, M.D., and Program
Director Fred Taylor, Ph.D., underscored IDeA's successes. Since
the inauguration of the program, IDeA states have grown in receipt
of NIH competitive research funding at a rate higher than the national
average. Donald Capra, M.D., of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
and a participant in the program, calculated that such growth trends
remain evident even when funding from the IDeA program itself is
removed from the total, indicating that the program has been successful
in leveraging wider growth in competitive research.
Among other highlights of the symposium, Maurizio Del Poeta, M.D.,
of the Medical University of South Carolina, presented the honorary
Thomas Maciag Lecture on his team's ground breaking discovery of
the role sphingolipids in mediating signal pathways and fungal pathogenesis,
including a common AIDS-related opportunistic infection.
Information:
Stephen Heinig, Lead Science Policy Analyst
AAMC Biomedical Health Sciences Research
sheinig@aamc.org
(202) 828-0488
Six More Senators Sign Letter Opposing Medicaid
Cuts
Sens. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) July 20 resent
a June 29 sign-on letter to Health and Human Services Secretary
Mike Leavitt opposing the Administration's proposed cuts to Medicaid
[see Washington Highlights, July 7, 2006]. Six additional Senators joined the initial 44
signers of the bipartisan letter: Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Daniel
Inouye (D-Hawaii), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.),
and Finance Committee members John Rockefeller (D-W.V.) and Ron
Wyden (D-Ore.).
Information:
Christiane Mitchell, Senior Legislative Analyst
AAMC Government Relations
cmitchell@aamc.org
(202) 828-0526
Higher Ed Commission to Meet in DC
In a July 24 Federal Register notice,
the Department of Education announced a sixth open meeting of the
Secretary of Education's Commission
on the Future of Higher Education. The meeting will be held Aug.
10 in Washington, DC, to discuss the recently released second draft
of the Commission's final report [see Washington
Highlights, July 21].
Attendees must register in advance.
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