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AAMC and AHA to host "Teaching Hospital Advocacy Day"
The AAMC and the American Hospital Association (AHA) are hosting a joint
advocacy day July 11 to alert Congress to the significant work force
shortages facing America's hospitals and the related need for adequate
Medicare payments. After a morning legislative update, participants will
meet with their members of Congress in the afternoon. The advocacy day aims
to generate bipartisan support for "The American Hospital Preservation
Act," which provides a full inflation update to Medicare inpatient service
payments in FYs 2002 and 2003 and maintains Medicare indirect medical
education payments at current levels of 6.5 percent. All teaching hospital
chief executive officers, medical school deans, and other teaching hospital
and medical school representatives are encouraged to attend.
Information: Go to <http://www.aamc.org/advocacy/washhigh/01jun29/_1.htm>,
or contact Lynne Davis, AAMC Office of Governmental Relations,
202.828.0529, ldavis@aamc.org.
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AAMC urges Congress to retain NIH salary cap at higher level
On June 26, the AAMC joined nearly 80 other scientific organizations and
institutions to send a letter to the chairs and ranking members of the
House and Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittees, urging
them to keep the cap on NIH salaries at Executive Level I ($161,200 in
2001). The cap, which has been inserted into every Labor-HHS appropriations
bill since FY 1990, prohibits the use of NIH funds to pay the salary of an
individual, through a grant or other extramural mechanism, at a rate in
excess of the amount of the cap. The FY 2001 Labor-HHS appropriations
conference agreement raised the salary cap to Executive Level I. President
Bush's FY 2002 budget proposes to reduce the salary cap to Executive Level
II (currently $145,100).
Information: Go to <http://www.aamc.org/advocacy/washhigh/01jun29/_4.htm>,
or contact David Moore, AAMC Office of Governmental Relations,
202.828.0559, dbmoore@aamc.org.
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Tommy Thompson surveys Texas flood damage, announces relief efforts
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson toured Memorial Hermann, Baylor, and Methodist
hospitals in Houston on July 6 to survey damage caused by Tropical Storm
Allison. Accompanying him were congressional members from Texas; Tom
Scully, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS); and Wendy Baldwin, Ph.D., NIH deputy director for extramural research.
Thompson said the NIH will provide emergency funding supplements to
existing grants this year to replace damaged or lost research resources.
Due to the hospitals' urgent need, funds could be used to lease equipment
prior to procuring approval to buy new equipment. The NIH also will extend
application deadlines so that the affected institutions can submit requests
for construction grants for research and animal facilities, and will waive
the normal requirement for matching funds from the institutions. NIH staff
will work with researchers whose projects have been compromised or delayed,
extending timeframes as needed.
Thompson also announced that the CMS has taken a number of steps to
accommodate hospitals and other health care providers, especially
recognizing situations where billing and records systems have been damaged.
The CMS has instructed its Medicare contractors to respond as quickly as
possible to requests for accelerated or advance payments. Likewise, the CMS
has told contractors to be flexible in responding to requests for time
extensions for medical record production, cost report submissions, and
other required data. The CMS is also providing emergency approval for
facilities to share and use beds and other resources flexibly.
Damage estimates by the hospitals are $433 million at Memorial Hermann,
$296 million at Baylor College of Medicine, and $195 million at the
Methodist Health Care System.
Information: Tony Jewell, HHS Press Office, 202.690.6343.
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HHS issues guidance on patient privacy regulations
HHS has issued the first in a series of guidance materials on the enactment
of new federal patient privacy regulations under the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In an effort to help health
care providers and health plans comply with regulations by April 14, 2003,
the guidance - available on the Web - answers common questions about new
protections for consumers and requirements for doctors, hospitals, health
plans, and health care clearinghouses.
Information: The guidance material is available at
<http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa>. A fact sheet summarizing the new privacy
regulations is available at
<http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2001pres/01fsprivacy.html>. Or call the HHS
Press Office at 202.690.6343.
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New RWJF program aims to improve treatment of depression in primary
care
To increase the use of effective treatment models for depression in primary
care settings, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is funding a five-year,
$12 million program titled "Depression in Primary Care: Linking Clinical
and System Strategies." The program has three components: "incentives,"
"value," and "leadership." The goal of the incentives component is to plan,
implement, and evaluate projects that test the feasibility and
effectiveness of a combined clinical and economic systems approach to
changing the treatment of depression in primary care. Participation in this
component is limited to a small group of invitees able to develop
partnerships among researchers, practices, health plans, purchasers, and
others. The primary goal of the value component is to support thorough
analysis of the outcomes and value of depression treatment in primary care.
It will use an open call for proposals to solicit research projects for
funding. Finally, the third component of the program is intended to advance
the treatment of depression as a chronic illness in primary care by
developing leaders within primary medical care specialties.
The program is being administered through the designated National Program
Office at the University of Pittsburgh. Harold Pincus, M.D., executive vice
chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine and director of the RAND Health Program in Pittsburgh,
is serving as national program director.
Information: Lynn Ellison, Ph.D., deputy program director, University of
Pittsburgh Medical Center, 412.624.5332, elinsonli@msx.upmc.edu.
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Hot headlines
AMA Fires CEO After He Files Suit: Board Cites Terms of Employment
Agreement
<http://chicagotribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,2669,SAV-0106300130,FF.html>,
Chicago Tribune, 6/30/01
Stem Cell Research Under Fire: Hopkins Researcher Says the Potential to
Reverse Diseases is Real, "Not Hype"
<http://www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/oped/bal-pe.cells01jul010.story>,
Baltimore Sun, 7/1/01
Conservative Pressure for Stem Cell Funds Builds
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6571-2001Jul1.html>,
Washington Post, 7/2/01
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On the move
Betty M. Drees, M.D., formerly executive associate dean, has been appointed
interim dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas School of Medicine,
effective July 1. Her appointment is for two years, through June 2003.
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