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Washington Update
* HHS hopes that one of the
provisions of the 2003 Medicare law will make it easier for seniors
and disabled Americans to receive better care
for multiple chronic conditions. The Voluntary Chronic Care Improvement
Program will include 150,000 to 300,000 Medicare beneficiaries enrolled
in fee-for-service programs with conditions like congestive heart failure,
complex diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services is soliciting proposals from organizations
with a track record of treating multiple chronic conditions to run 10
centers around the country for a three-year period. For more information
about the program, go here. *HHS has a new technology czar: On May 7, Tommy Thompson announced the appointment of David J. Brailer, M.D., Ph.D., formerly a senior fellow at the Health Technology Center, to the position of national health information technology coordinator in the secretary’s office. Health IT is getting a flurry of Washington attention these days, including an April 27 speech by President Bush calling for a national electronic medical records system and a promise by Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., to introduce a bill promoting electronic medical records for all Americans by 2015. *The United States signed the World Health Organization’s treaty on global tobacco control on May 10 (see HABIT, May 27, 2003). Although the signing allows the United States to continue discussing the treaty at a June WHO meeting, it still faces confirmation by the U.S. Senate and may not cause any change in national tobacco law unless Congress passes the treaty’s recommended legislation, according to a May 12 article in the Washington Post. The treaty must be signed by 40 governments to become internationally binding. *In other tobacco news, two bills that would give the Food and Drug Administration greater leeway in regulating tobacco were introduced in the House of Representatives and Senate on May 20, after similar legislation stalled in Congress last year (see HABIT, June 24 and October 28, 2003). If passed, the bills would help the FDA regulate certain cigarette additives and advertising claims. To read more, go here and search for bill numbers “S.2461” and “H.R.4433.” *To keep a promise to cut the federal budget deficit in half in five years and maintain current defense and security spending, the Bush administration has proposed deep cuts in non-defense R&D spending, according to an analysis by the Association for the Advancement of Science. After looking over the administration’s proposed FY 2005 budget, AAAS reports that “nearly every federal R&D program outside the priority areas of defense, homeland security, and space would see reduced funding over the next five years,” To read more, go here. Member organizations of The World Health Organization adopted its Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health at its annual assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, held May 17-21. The U.N. campaign encourages people worldwide to lower the amount of fats, sugars and salt in their diets. The campaign’s original draft had concluded that sugar should make up less than 10 percent of daily caloric intake, a proposal rejected by the United States and others. (See HABIT, April 29, 2003.) |
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