Dr. John Prescott to join AAMC
as chief academic officer
John E. Prescott, M.D., former dean of the West Virginia University
(WVU) School of Medicine, will be the AAMC's new
chief academic officer. Selected after a nationwide search,
Dr. Prescott plans to join the AAMC in September to lead the association's
efforts to improve the education and training of new physicians,
and enable them to meet the changing health care needs of the public.
Dr. Prescott served in various leadership roles at WVU for 15 years,
as the first chair of the WVU Department of Emergency Medicine,
as the founder and director of the WVU Center for Rural Emergency
Medicine, as president and CEO of the university's multi-specialty
faculty practice plan, and finally as dean of the medical school.
He has been an active member of the AAMC Council of Deans (COD),
through which he chaired the association's Holistic Admissions and
Enhancing Diversity Committee, and served as COD representative
to the Advisory Committee for Medical School Programs of the National
Board of Medical Examiners. He is also a former member of the AAMC
Group on Faculty Practice.
AAMC applauds Senate appropriations
committee for NIH funding increase
In a statement
Friday, AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., congratulated
the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee for approving the fiscal
year 2009 Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations
bill. The measure provides $30.255 billion for the National Institutes
of Heath (NIH), an increase of 3.5 percent over both the previous
year's funding level and President Bush's budget request. The bill
also provides $135 million for the National Health Service Corps,
an increase of 9.3 percent, but freezes the funding level for the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality at the previous level
of $334.6 million.
In the statement, Dr. Kirch noted that the funding increase will
allow the NIH to award the highest number of new research project
grants in its history and keep up with the biomedical inflation
rate for the first time in six years.
Congress passes bill extending Medicaid moratorium
Last week Congress passed
the fiscal year 2008 emergency supplemental appropriations bill,
which includes AAMC-supported provisions prohibiting until April
1, 2009, any regulatory action related to the Medicaid graduate
medical education proposed rule, the Medicaid final rule on cost
limits/units of government (the "IGT rule"), and four other Medicaid
regulations. The spending bill also provides $400 million in science
agency funding, including $150 million for the NIH. President Bush
has indicated that he will sign the bill into law.
In a statement, AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D.,
applauded Congress for extending the Medicaid moratorium. "By prohibiting
any regulatory action to eliminate $1.78 billion in Medicaid funding
for graduate medical education until April 1, 2009, this bipartisan
agreement maintains the vital funding teaching hospitals need to
support the training of new physicians," noted Dr. Kirch. "The legislation
also places the same moratorium on any regulatory efforts to cut
$3.87 billion in Medicaid funding for safety net providers, such
as the nation's teaching hospitals and physicians, who provide health
care to all Americans, regardless of their ability to pay."
Report finds significant increase
in physician self-referrals
The Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation has released a report indicating that
physician self-referral, in which patients are referred to a colleague
within the same medical practice or to a facility where the physician
has ownership interest, has increased significantly in the last
decade. The report explores the increase in self-referrals, the
growth of specialty (or physician-owned) facilities, and the effect
on the quality of health care overall. The report found that there
has been a substantial increase in specialty facilities and in the
utilization of the services they offer. Also, patients treated at
specialty facilities, as opposed to general hospitals, were usually
found to be more "profitable," meaning they experienced fewer complications
and were less likely to utilize federally-subsidized health care
coverage, like Medicaid. However, despite losing some patient cases
to these facilities, the report indicated that general hospitals
haven't experienced a dip in profits and continue to provide comparable
health care.
NIH launches online resource on
the use of animals in research
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed a new online
resource
on animals in research for researchers and institutions. The Web
site features links to policy and guidance information from the
NIH Office of Laboratory Welfare; grant resources; crises preparedness
strategies; funding opportunities; and training resources on animal
care and use, research models, and science and ethics. The site
also chronicles advances in animal research as well as NIH media
releases and fact sheets on the benefits of animals in research.
A similar Web site for the general public is under development.
On the move
Daniel Winship, M.D., has been named secretary to the American
Medical Association's Council on Medical Education and associate
director of the undergraduate medical education division. He will
also serve as assistant secretary to the Liaison Committee on Medical
Education. Dr. Winship holds academic positions at Rush Medical
College of Rush University Medical Center and University of Illinois
Chicago School of Public Health, and is an emeritus professor at
the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine. He also
served as a Robert G. Petersdorf Scholar in Residence at the AAMC.
