In Washington… Senate Budget Committee approves its budget resolution…
On the heels of the House’s recent approval of its FY 2003 budget resolution, the Senate Budget Committee began - and completed - its work on the measure as well. The Senate panel set aside $500 billion for a Medicare prescription drug benefit and increased payments to providers. The Bush administration proposed only $190 billion for this purpose and the House-passed resolution includes only $350 billion. However, at the end of March, HHS suggested cutting hospital payments to increase physician payments.
And a Federal Medicaid rate increase is being considered again…
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) is about to introduce legislation that would increase the federal Medicaid funds that states receive by at least 1.5 percent and higher in states with high unemployment.
Worth noting…
Two key House members, Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) and Health Subcommittee Chair Nancy Johnson (R-CT) are urging improvements in the methodology for making physician payments under Medicare. The two legislators are suggesting a variety of changes including a different way of measuring physician productivity and using more complete and recent information to calculate payments.
Bush Nominates Top Johns Hopkins Official to Lead NIH...
On Tuesday, March 26, President Bush nominated Elias Zerhouni, MD, chair of the Radiology Department at Johns Hopkins Hospital, to serve as the next director of the National Institutes of Health.
BWH’s chairman of Radiology Steven Seltzer, MD, was invited to Bush’s East Room announcement. “Dr. Zerhouni is an outstanding biomedical scientist. He will be able to combine the perspectives of the clinician with that of the basic researcher. His leadership skills and experience give him outstanding qualifications to lead the largest biomedical research enterprise in the world,” said Seltzer, who has collaborated with Zerhouni on a number of research projects.
Bush also used the White House announcement to name Richard Carmona, MD, a regarded Arizona physician, to serve as Surgeon General.