Washington Highlights: October 6,
2006
Contents
Prior Issues
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President Signs Funding Extension
President Bush Sept. 29 signed the FY 2007 Defense appropriations
bill (H.R.
5631, P.L. 109-289). The bill includes a continuing resolution
(CR) that provides funding for federal programs through Nov. 17.
The CR is necessary because only two of the 12 annual appropriations
bills have been signed into law. For programs within the Labor-HHS-Education
appropriations bill (H.R.
5647, S.
3708), which has been approved by both the House and Senate
Appropriations Committees but has not been passed in either chamber,
the CR provides funding at the FY 2006 levels.
Information:
Dave Moore, Senior Director
AAMC Government Relations
dbmoore@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
Academic Medical Centers Named as First CTSA
Recipients
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Oct. 3 announced the first
12 academic medical centers and partners to receive Clinical
and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs). The institutions include:
- Columbia University Medical Center (New York, N.Y.)
- Duke University Medical Center (Durham N.C.)
- Mayo Clinic College of Medicine (Rochester, Minn.)
- Oregon Health & Science University (Portland, Ore.)
- Rockefeller University (New York, N.Y.)
- University of California, Davis (Davis. Calif.)
- University of California, San Francisco (San Francisco, Calif.)
- University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine/Children's Hospital
of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, Pa.)
- University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry (Rochester,
N.Y.)
- University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Houston,
Texas)
- Yale University School of Medicine (New Haven, Conn.)
Total first-year funding for the awards is approximately $100 million.
When fully implemented by 2012, the CTSA initiative is expected
to include 60 academic medical centers and a total of $500 million
annually.
At a press conference announcing the awards, NIH Director Elias
Zerhouni, M.D., noted that the strength and quality of the 35 applications
received reflected great energy and commitment in the academic community
for clinical and translational research, and allowed NIH to make
more awards in the first round than anticipated. An additional 52
academic medical centers were selected to receive planning
grants to help plan and prepare future CTSA applications.
In his remarks describing the purpose of the CTSA program, Dr.
Zerhouni underscored the demands of chronic care in a growing population,
which consumes more than 75 percent of the nation's medical resources.
There have also been tremendous advances in genomics, molecular
biology, informatics and other laboratory sciences. The new awards,
which he described as a "consortium" of clinical and translational
research organizations, will accelerate the rate at which new discoveries
can be translated into clinical application. Barbara Alving, M.D.,
Acting Director of NIH's National Center for Research Resources,
which oversees the program, commented that there will be a strong
evaluation component to the program, both at NIH and within the
awardee institutions themselves. Dr. Alving added that the academic
centers themselves have invested significant resources into making
the program work.
A second Request for Applications (RFA) for CTSAs has been issued,
calling for the next round of submissions to be made by Jan. 17,
2007, with awards expected in fall 2007.
Information:
Howard Dickler, Director
AAMC Biomedical Health Sciences Research
hdickler@aamc.org
(202) 828-0567
Senate Passes Animal Research Protection Bill
The Senate Sept. 29 passed the "Animal Enterprise Terrorism
Protection Act" (S.
3880), which is designed to strengthen the legal authority for
law enforcement to prosecute individuals involved in campaigns targeting
animal research enterprises and researchers. Cosponsored by Sens.
James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the legislation
also addresses actions against companies doing business with academic
and commercial biomedical enterprises.
Rep. Thomas Petri (R-Wis.) is lead sponsor of a nearly identical
House bill (H.R.
4239), which is expected to be considered by the House Judiciary
Committee when Congress returns in November. The AAMC Sept. 12 sent
a letter
to House Judiciary Chair James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Ranking
Member John Conyers (D-Mich.) urging the committee to pass H.R.
4239.
Information:
Erica Froyd, Director, Public Health and Research Legislative Affairs
AAMC Government Relations
efroyd@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
Congress Clears Children's Hospital GME
The Senate Sept. 26 passed the Children's Hospital GME Support
Reauthorization Act (H.R.
5574), clearing the bill to be signed by the President. The
bill, which reauthorizes the Children's Hospital GME program through
FY 2011, was passed by the House June 21.
The bill includes a provision that all grantees must submit annual
reports to the Department of Health and Human Services. Beginning
in FY 2008, failure to report will result in a 25 percent reduction
of payment. The reports must include:
- types of residency training programs available at the hospital;
- the number of training positions for residents, the number of
positions recruited to fill, and the number filled;
- the types of training available to residents related to health
care needs of different populations such as the underserved;
- changes made during the year for the purpose of training residents
to care for the underserved and for the improvement of quality
and patient safety; and
- the number of residents who completed their residency and are
caring for children in the service area of the hospital or within
the state.
H.R. 5574 authorizes $330 million per fiscal year through FY 2011.
The program is funded at $297 million in FY 2006. The FY 2007 Labor-HHS-Education
Appropriations bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee
(H.R.
5647) includes $300 million for Children's GME, while the Senate
version (S.
3708) provides $200 million. The AAMC signed onto an April 28
joint hospital association letter
urging Congress to provide $330 million for the program in FY 2007.
Information:
Erica Froyd, Director, Public Health and Research Legislative Affairs
AAMC Government Relations
efroyd@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
Frist, Kennedy Introduce Health Disparities Bill
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), and Senators Edward
Kennedy (D-Mass.), Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), and Barrack Obama (D-Ill.)
Sept. 29 introduced the "Minority Health Improvement and Health
Disparity Elimination Act" (S.
4024). The legislation seeks to improve the health and health
care of racial and ethnic minority and other health disparity populations
through enhanced cultural competency training for providers, grants
to improve health care access and outreach to underserved populations,
and increased research to reduce health care disparities, among
other provisions.
The bill reauthorizes the Title VII Centers of Excellence, Health
Careers Opportunity Program, Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students,
and Faculty Loan Repayment programs, which are designed to improve
the diversity of the health care workforce through recruitment,
training and mentoring. The legislation also requires health professions
schools to collect and report demographic data on applicants, matriculants,
and graduates to the Department of Health and Human Services to
be stored in a database and analyzed to assess diversity within
the health professions.
The bill also creates a new grant program at the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality for research to improve the health of racial
and ethnic minority and other health disparity populations. It directs
the Institute of Medicine to convene a summit to evaluate and report
on federal efforts addressing health disparities. The bill reauthorizes
the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities and
strengthens its role in coordinating disparities research at the
National Institutes of Health.
Sen. Frist hopes to pass the bill in November, before he leaves
the Senate.
Information:
Erica Froyd, Director, Public Health and Research Legislative Affairs
AAMC Government Relations
efroyd@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
AAMC Supports Moderate Republican Push for Labor-HHS
Funding
The AAMC Oct. 4 sent a letter
to 24 moderate Republican members of the House of Representatives
who called on their leadership to fulfill a commitment made earlier
this year to provide additional funding for the FY 2007 Labor-HHS-Education
appropriations bill. The moderates, led by Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.),
sent a Sept. 27 letter reminding House Majority Leader John Boehner
(R-Ohio) "of the agreement to provide no less than $7 billion
above the Administration's request" for the FY 2007 Labor-HHS
bill [see Washington Highlights,
Sept. 29].
Information:
Dave Moore, Senior Director
AAMC Government Relations
dbmoore@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
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