Obama announces "historic" $5
billion in medical research grants
During a visit today to the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
President Barack Obama announced
$5 billion in new medical research grants as part of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Obama praised the "extraordinary
groundbreaking research" at "the National Institutes of Health and
at universities and research institutions across this country,"
and said the new grants signified a "historic commitment to research
and the pursuit of discovery."
The president acknowledged the role of the nation's "universities
and research institutions" in advancing biomedical knowledge and
offering hope for new treatments and cures, noting that they "are
demonstrating our capacity not just as a nation but as human beings
to harness our creativity and our ingenuity to save lives, to spare
suffering, to build a better world for ourselves, our children,
and our grandchildren." AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch,
M.D., joined NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., and other
major stakeholders at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., for the announcement.
According to White House estimates, the approximately 12,000 new
grants, which comprise the largest infusion of money to date into
biomedical research, will support the full continuum of medical
research and create tens of thousands of jobs over the next two
years.
AAMC awards Nickens fellowships,
scholarships
Elizabeth Miller, M.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics at
the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, has been
awarded the 2009 Herbert
W. Nickens Faculty Fellowship. The $15,000 fellowship recognizes
an outstanding junior faculty member who demonstrates leadership
in addressing inequities in medical education and health care, addresses
the health care needs of minorities, and is committed to a career
in academic medicine.
Five $5,000 Herbert W. Nickens Medical Student Scholarships, were
also awarded to third-year medical students who have demonstrated
leadership in addressing the societal and health care needs of minorities.
The recipients were Olatokunbo Musili Famakinwa of Yale University
School of Medicine, Yohko Murakami of Stanford University School
of Medicine, Lisa M. Ochoa-Frongia of Mount Sinai School of Medicine,
Blayne Amir Sayed of Northwestern University Feinberg School of
Medicine, and Lloyd A. Webster of the University of Medicine and
Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School.
New AspiringDocs.org "Ask the Experts" feature
covers applying to medical school in tough times
The AspiringDocs.org
Web site is currently featuring a new "Ask the Experts" session
with Julie Fresne, AAMC director of student/resident debt management
services, and Joetta Bradica, Ed.D., assistant director for student
aid at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. The
panelists responded online to questions on applying to medical schools
in a challenging economy. Questions for next month's topic-raising
a family and applying to medical school-will be accepted until Nov.
30.
Schwartz reintroduces HIZ legislation
Last week, Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) reintroduced
the AAMC-supported "Healthcare Innovation Zone Program Act of 2009."
The revised legislation expanded upon several issues and established
among other things, an "HIZ Coordinating Entity," which would receive
and administer payments to health care delivery networks. In addition,
the bill authorizes the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services to award between 10 and 25 HIZ model planning
grants ranging from $250,000 to $1 million to various entities,
some of which will be chosen for a three-year demonstration project.
In order to find a solution to the nation's health care challenges,
Schwartz said, "we have to bridge the current system's fragmentation,
encourage coordination, and promote collaboration."
Finance committee concludes reform debate
On Friday, the Senate
Finance Committee concluded debate on amendments to its draft
health care reform legislation, the America's Healthy Future Act
of 2009. Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) will request a revised
Congressional Budget Office cost analysis of the amended legislation
before scheduling a vote on the measure. The committee rejected
a Medicare physician payment amendment which would have extended
the one year of physician payment relief, contained in the legislation,
to three years.
Baucus: new GAO report finds "potentially
dangerous overuse" of health care
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report
titled "Medicare Physician Services: Utilization Trends Indicate
Sustained Beneficiary Access with High and Growing Levels of Service
in Some Areas of the Nation." One of the report's key conclusions
was that "some geographic areas of the country experienced much
higher levels of utilization of physician services and much greater
increases in utilization compared to the rest of the nation." Senate
Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who commissioned the
report, said in a written statement the report's findings "revealed
disproportionate Medicare spending and potentially dangerous overuse
of services in certain regions of the United States."
AAHRPP releases revised standards
The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection
Programs (AAHRPP) has issued a major revision
of its standards. The new standards provide increased flexibility
in interpretation and strengthened standards on global research,
conflicts of interest, community-based research, and data and safety
monitoring.
Few ERs meet wait-time goals
A study
in the current Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians,
found a majority of emergency departments failed to meet wait-time
goals. The study, "U.S. Emergency Department Performance on Wait
Time and Length of Visit," revealed that only 14 percent of emergency
departments achieved the triage target of one hour for 90 percent
of their patients. Fewer than half of the hospitals consistently
admitted patients within six hours.
Report: many states not equipped for swine
flu outbreak
A new
report titled "H1N1 Challenges Ahead" says that 15 states would
have a shortage of hospital beds if 35 percent of Americans contracted
swine flu. Hospitals in 12 other states would be close to full capacity.
The study, conducted by Trust for America's Health, indicated that
low vaccination rates, lack of paid sick leave and health insurance,
as well as state budget cuts help contribute to the lack of preparedness.
Recommendations included vaccination campaigns, an emergency health
benefit for the uninsured, and waived co-payments on vaccinations
covered by public and private insurers.
