House and Senate Committees Announce Agreement to Provide a Four-Year Physician Payment Fix
The Chairmen of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committee have announced an agreement to provide a four-year physician payment fix. The agreement would provide updates in physician payment rates for the rest of this year and next year. For 2012 and 2013, rates would continue to increase if spending growth on physician services is within reasonable limits, with an extra allowance for primary and preventive care. Rates could not be reduced in 2012 or 2013, but after that, rates would return to their current law levels. Read more.

Nobel Laureate Harold Varmus to Head National Cancer Institute
President Barack Obama has named Dr. Harold Varmus, who shared the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine while at the University of California - San Francisco (UCSF), to head the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Read more.

NIH Proposes Revisions to Financial Conflicts-of-Interest Regulations
On May 20, NIH unveiled a proposal to make several revisions to rules concerning disclosure of financial interests and conflicts. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking to amend current regulations governing "Responsibility of Applicants for Promoting Objectivity in Research for Which Public Health Service Funding Is Sought" will be published on May 21, and NIH will be soliciting public comments and input for 60 days. Read more.

NIH Director Francis Collins Testifies Before Congress
NIH Director Francis Collins recently met with House and Senate appropriators to discuss the NIH budget for the next fiscal year (FY). During his remarks, Dr. Collins testified that NIH will face a financial crisis in FY 2011 when a two-year allotment of $10.4 billion in stimulus funding for research runs out. Read more.

NIH Approves More Embryonic Stem Cell Lines for Federal Funding
NIH announced that four additional lines of human embryonic stem cells are now eligible for federal funding, including the most widely used line. Read more.

ASH Urges Appropriations Committees to Fully Fund Quality Measurement Initiatives Included in Health Reform
ASH has joined other physician organizations in urging the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to provide $75 million in FY 2011 for quality measurement initiatives included in the recent health reform legislation. The funding would enable the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to provide grants to develop and update quality measures that address specific health-care populations and priorities.

ASH Submits Comments to AHRQ on Comparative Effectiveness of Epoetin and Darbepoetin
ASH submitted comments to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) about its proposed key questions for the 2010 update of the 2006 report on Comparative Effectiveness of Epoetin and Darbepoetin for Managing Anemia in Patients Undergoing Cancer Treatment. Read more.