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AAMC Outlines Advocacy and Legislative Priorities for 2000

Duke's Snyderman Releases Clinical Research Task Force Report

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Washington, D.C., January 13, 2000--The Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., presented the AAMC's year 2000 advocacy and legislative agenda today at a briefing in Washington, D.C. Two major areas of focus in the coming year for the AAMC will involve exploring ways to ameliorate the continuing financial instability of U.S. teaching hospitals and to strengthen the clinical research enterprise.

"Medical schools and teaching hospitals will again face serious financial challenges in the coming year, and the AAMC plans to work closely with members of the provider community, Congress, and the Administration to minimize the effect these challenges will have on education, research, and care," said Dr. Cohen. "In addition, the AAMC will expand its efforts to raise awareness about the value of clinical research and the need for a greater national commitment to this critical area of scientific endeavor."

The Medicare cuts imposed by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) continue to threaten the fiscal viability of U.S. teaching hospitals and remain a major concern for the AAMC. The costs of drugs, devices, and the information technology upgrades necessary to deliver quality care continue to demand greater resources at a time when many teaching hospitals are cutting staff, losing money, and struggling to fulfill their multiple missions.

The AAMC's advocacy agenda will also address reducing medical errors and enhancing patient safety. In particular, the AAMC supports the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as one of the lead federal agencies tasked with gaining a better understanding of why errors occur and how they can be prevented.

Clinical Research

The AAMC is recommending an increase of 15 percent for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in FY 2001, to $20.6 billion. In addition to NIH appropriations, the AAMC's legislative agenda for clinical research will support the:

• Clinical Research Enhancement Act, to authorize new awards to support clinical investigation and training, provide additional funding for NIH's General Clinical Research Centers, and extend the NIH Loan Repayment Program to clinical investigators;
  
• Medicare Cancer Clinical Trial Coverage Act, to establish a three-year demonstration project to provide Medicare coverage for routine patient care costs in approved cancer clinical trials. The AAMC believes this bill could serve as a model for Medicare's support of clinical trials involving diseases other than cancer; and
  
• Medical Innovation Tax Credit Act, to establish tax credits for private companies that sponsor clinical trials research at medical schools and affiliated hospitals. In recent years, medical schools and teaching hospitals have experienced a drop in their share of trials sponsored by industry.

Task Force Report

Joining Dr. Cohen at the AAMC briefing was Ralph Snyderman, M.D., chancellor for Health Affairs at Duke University Medical Center and executive dean of the School of Medicine. Dr. Snyderman provided an overview of the AAMC Task Force on Clinical Research's new report, "For the Health of the Public: Ensuring the Future of Clinical Research." Dr. Snyderman chairs the task force, which was established in 1998. He is also current chair of the AAMC's Council of Deans.

The report contains a set of findings and recommendations that cover the current state of education and training, the optimal infrastructure for clinical research, the organization and administration of clinical trials, and the interface with evolving clinical delivery systems. The task force report is the academic medical community's initial response to the overarching recommendations put forth by the national Clinical Research Summit project. The Summit project brought together participants from across the health care community to discuss clinical research and make consensus-based recommendations, which were outlined in a "Call to Action" that was released in November at a Capitol Hill briefing for the health policy community. The AAMC's legislative agenda for clinical research reflects the findings and recommendations of these two efforts.

For a copy of the task force report, please contact Darnell Privott, AAMC Office of Communications, at 202-828-0551, or dprivott@aamc.org.

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The Association of American Medical Colleges represents the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools; the 16 accredited Canadian medical schools; some 400 major teaching hospitals, including 74 Veterans Administration medical centers; 91 academic and professional societies representing nearly 88,000 faculty members; and the nation's 67,000 medical students and 102,000 residents.

Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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