2010-04-27

Medicare Physician Payment Unresolved

As this issue went to press, Congress had still not resolved the issue of Medicare physician payment. Fixing the formula used to calculate Medicare physician payment had originally been thought of as a key component of health reform. The high cost of the fix ($250 million over 10 years), however, brought the total cost of the health reform bill above a trillion dollars, so it was excluded from the health overhaul package.

The Senate was expected to consider a new short-term extension bill HR 4851 that would extend the 2009 Medicare physician payment rates and prevent scheduled cuts until April 30, 2010. The Senate had approved a longer-term extension HR 4213 earlier, but the House of Representatives opted to pass the 30-day extension included in HR 4851. Updated information about this issue is available on the ASH Web site at www.hematology.org.

Online Resource: ASH Federal Grants Web Page

Drawing together the multitude of hematology-related research grant opportunities that are available through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal agencies, the Society has created a section on the ASH Web site to simplify members’ search for requests for blood and blood disease research topics. ASH regularly updates this page and will expand its scope in the future when other grants are published that may be of interest to hematologists.

Historic Health Reform Legislation Signed Into Law

President Barack Obama signed a landmark health-care bill into law March 23, enacting a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s $2.5 trillion health system after a year-long effort.

More than a dozen Republican state attorneys general filed lawsuits challenging it as unconstitutional minutes after the President signed it into law.

The legislation would cost $940 billion over the next decade and extend health insurance coverage to an estimated 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured. The package is aimed at stemming the soaring growth in the cost of health care and reducing the federal deficit by more than $1.3 trillion over the next 20 years.

Some of the benefits that kick in this year include a provision barring insurance companies from excluding children with preexisting conditions and another that allows children to remain on their parents’ health insurance policy under certain circumstances until age 26.

A few of the less popular provisions will be phased in over several years, including the requirement that all Americans buy health insurance.

Please visit the ASH Web site at www.hematology.org for an analysis of how the health reform law will impact hematologists.

Stem Cell Bill Introduced in House of Representatives

Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Mike Castle (R-DE) introduced legislation on March 10 “to ensure a lasting ethical framework” for human stem cell research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The Stem Cell Research Advancement Act (HR 4808) builds on President Obama’s March 2009 Executive Order overturning former President Bush’s restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The bill authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct and support research on human stem cells, including embryonic stem cells, under the following conditions:

• The stem cells were derived from human embryos that have been donated from in vitro fertilization clinics, were created for the purposes of reproductive treatment, and were in excess of the clinical need of the individuals seeking such treatment.
• It was determined through consultation with the individuals seeking reproductive treatment that the embryos to be donated would never be implanted in a woman and would otherwise be discarded.
• The individuals seeking reproductive treatment donated the embryos with written informed consent and without receiving any financial or other inducements to make the donation.

In addition, the bill requires NIH to maintain guidelines on human stem cell research conducted or supported by HHS and to review the guidelines at least every three years and update them as warranted. The bill also explicitly bans federal funding for human cloning.

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