Washington Highlights: October 17,
2008
Contents
Prior Issues
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House Dems Begin Work on Second Stimulus Package
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Oct. 13 convened an economic
forum with House Democratic leaders and some of the nation's leading
economists to begin to lay the groundwork for a second economic
stimulus package.
The size of the package has not been decided. At an Oct. 16 briefing,
Pelosi staff refused to put a number of the proposal, saying only
that the economists said it should be larger than the $60.8 billion
package (H.R.
7110) approved by the House in late September but it will not
be as high as $300 billion, as was reported in the press earlier
in the week.
In a statement released Oct. 15, Speaker Pelosi said she has "asked
the chairs of relevant committees to schedule hearings in the coming
weeks on the key provisions of a fiscally responsible recovery package
to get our economy moving again." Hearings will begin the week
of Oct. 20 when Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke testifies before
the House Budget Committee.
The timing for consideration of the package also has not been decided.
Pelosi staff said the plan might be considered in November, late
January, or February, but cautioned against speculation that the
House would conduct a lame-duck session in mid-November when members
return to Washington for organizational meetings for the new Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has announced that the
Senate will return for a lame-duck session beginning Nov. 17 to
take up a package of public land use 150 bills that have been blocked
by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). No plans have been publicized for
possible Senate action on a second economic stimulus. The Senate
Sept. 26 failed to gain the 60 votes needed to consider a $56.2
billion economic stimulus package offered by Reid and Senate Appropriations
Chair Robert Byrd. The "Economic Recovery Act of 2008"
(S.
3604) included an additional $1.2 billion for NIH.
Information:
Dave Moore, Senior Director
AAMC Government Relations
dbmoore@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
HHS Releases Interim Guidance on Patient Safety
Act
The Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Office of Civil Rights (OCR) published
in the Oct. 14 Federal Register a Notice of Availability
announcing interim
guidance on the "Patient Safety and Quality Improvement
Act of 2005"(P.L.
109-41). The guidance is intended to provide policies and procedures
for implementing the Patient Safety Act prior to the release of
a final rule. Specifically, the interim guidance provides information
on how an entity can become a Patient Safety Organization (PSO)
and how patient safety data may be protected as Patient Safety Work
Product (PSWP) in the interim period. The guidance is effective
immediately and will remain in effect until the release of the final
rule, anticipated in late 2008.
Information:
Jennifer Faerberg, Director, Health Care Affairs
AAMC Health Care Affairs
jfaerberg@aamc.org
(202) 862-6221
Ivy Baer, Director & Regulatory Counsel
AAMC Health Care Affairs
ibaer@aamc.org
(202) 828-0490
HHS Plans to Study Institutions' Research Misconduct
Education Efforts
The Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (OS) Oct.
14 announced
in the Federal Register a 30-day public comment period on
the proposed information collection, "Evaluating Institutions
Research Misconduct Education Efforts." The study will be conducted
by the HHS Office of Research Integrity (ORI) and will evaluate
the knowledge of medical school faculty members about their institution's
research misconduct policies and procedures. The ORI will study
the role of research misconduct education in medical schools and
will identify best practices and approaches used by medical institutions
to disseminate information and guidelines to their faculty, staff,
and students. Study participants have been identified from the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) list of medical school principal investigators
that received NIH research projects awards in 2005 or 2006. Comments
should be submitted to the OS OMB Desk Officer. Additional information
about the contents of the study is available upon request.
Information:
Irena Tartokovsky, Senior Science Policy Analyst
AAMC Biomedical and Health Sciences Research
itartakovsky@aamc.org
(202) 862-6134
CMS Solicits Comments on Physician Payment Locality
Study
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has extended
to Nov. 3 the deadline for comments on an interim study evaluating
alternative methods for determining physician payment localities.
CMS is not proposing to make adjustments at this time, but is soliciting
comments on the options presented in the interim study. CMS also
has stated that changes to payment localities must be budget neutral
and could significantly redistribute physician payments.
CMS is required by law to adjust Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
payments by geographic differences. Current Geographic Practice
Cost Index (GPCI) adjustments are based on 89 localities that have
not been updated since 1997. In the proposed 2009 Physician Fee
Schedule, CMS stated that it was evaluating 4 alternative approaches
to reconfigure the payment localities. The 4 alternatives include:
- CMS Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs). This method
uses a combination of Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Metropolitan
divisions to form localities within a state. This method would
be consistent with the inpatient prospective payment system.
- Separate High Cost Counties from Existing Localities.
This method uses an iterative process to create new localities
from the existing ones when the costs for a county are more than
a certain percentage above the costs for the rest of the locality.
- Separate Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) from Statewide
Localities. Similar to option 2, this method creates new localities
by using MSAs within a state.
- Locality Tiers. This option groups counties within a
state into tiers based on their costs.
The interim report, produced by Acumen LLC, is available on the
CMS website.
Comments on the interim report may be submitted to MPFS@cms.hhs.gov
until Nov. 3.
Information:
Mary Patton, Senior Specialist
AAMC Health Care Affairs
mpatton@aamc.org
(202) 862-6297
GAO Issues Report on Hospital Variation in Meeting
Community Benefit Requirements
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) Oct. 14 released a report,
"Variation in Standards and Guidance Limits Comparison of How
Hospitals Meet Community Benefit Requirements," that concludes
that "IRS's community benefit standard allows nonprofit hospitals
broad latitude to determine the services and activities that constitute
community benefit." GAO also noted that even when there is
agreement on the definition of charity care, it may be measured
and reported in different ways. However, the study occurred prior
to the IRS's requirement that hospitals that complete Form 990 also
report community benefit activities on Schedule H, beginning in
the 2009 tax year. It is anticipated that community benefit reporting
will be more consistent once hospitals must complete Schedule H.
Information:
Ivy Baer, Director & Regulatory Counsel
AAMC Health Care Affairs
ibaer@aamc.org
(202) 828-0490
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