Letter also offers recommendations on proposed 'policy riders'
Washington, December 9, 2015 -- The American College of Physicians (ACP) today sent a letter to Rep. Hal Rogers, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations and Rep. Nita Lowey, ranking member of the House Committee on Appropriations, urging that any year-end spending bills (or omnibus spending-bill package) provide necessary and sufficient funding for vital programs relating to public health, physician workforce, and research. The letter also offered ACP's recommendations on several proposed riders that would direct how funds may be used federal healthcare agencies.
Specifically, the letter:
- Opposes any provision that would significantly weaken the FDA's ability to regulate electronic cigarettes and to prevent youth marketing and sales of electronic nicotine delivery systems (also known as electronic cigarettes).
- Urges necessary and sufficient funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and opposes any provision that would eliminate agency funding.
- Opposes proposals to eliminate needed funding for the Patient Centered Outcomes Research.
- Urges necessary and sufficient funding for the Title VII Health Professions Training in Primary Care and Training Enhancement (PCTE) and the National Health Service Corps (NHSC).
- Opposes any restriction on CDC research on Prevention of Firearms-related Injuries and Deaths.
- Supports a provision that would amend current law to provide the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with the authority to grant a blanket exemption for 2015 to physicians, hospitals, and others who are affected by a penalty under the Stage 2 Meaningful Use (MU) program for electronic health records.
- Opposes restrictions on the ability of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to issue evidence-based clinical guidelines to inform shared decision-making between clinicians and their patients.
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ACP is the largest physician medical specialty society, and the second largest physician-membership organization, in the United States. ACP members include 143,000 internal medical physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illnesses.
Contact:
David Kinsman, (202) 261-4554, dkinsman@acponline.org