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Follow APA Advocacy on Twitter!
The APA Department of Government Relations is now on Twitter! Now you can find out about APA Advocacy activities, Congressional hearings, mark-ups, and floor votes in real time.
Please click on the following link to start following APA Advocacy Twitter:
http://twitter.com/apa_
advocacy
Questions about the Twitter page or how to set up an account? Please contact Kate McAllister at advocacy@psych.org. |
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Congress Again Delays Long Term Action on SGR
Last week President Obama signed into law the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010, H.R. 3962, blocking the 21 percent cut in Medicare physician payment and providing a 2.2 percent increase in payment through November 30, 2010. The bill was passed weeks after the June 1 statutory cut went into effect.
To read more about the processing and reprocessing of Medicare claims, click here. |
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President Obama Unveils "Patient's Bill of Rights" and Warns Insurers Against Raising Premiums
On June 22, President Obama announced that the Administration was creating a "Patient's Bill of Rights," a main goal of the Affordable Care Act to help protect consumers against insurance abuses. Some of the key provisions of the new rules, most of which take effect on September 23, include: preventing insurance companies from barring or limiting coverage for children with pre-existing conditions; ending lifetime limits on benefits; phasing out annual limits over the next three years; and protecting patient's choice of physician for primary care, pediatrics and OB/GYN. President Obama also used this announcement to deliver a stern warning to health insurance companies not to raise rates unreasonably in light of the new healthcare reform rules. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius reinforced the message by stating that the Department would be closely monitoring insurance practices and premiums for changes that they deem are out of the norm and potentially violating these rules. |
| NIH Director Collins Testifies before House Subcommittee
NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health on June 15. The hearing, entitled "NIH in the 21st Century: The Director's Perspective," examined NIH's research activities and priorities. Materials from the hearing, including Dr. Collins' testimony, an archived webcast, and a committee-prepared briefing memo, are available on the Energy and Commerce website at:
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New Videos Reveal How NIH Identifies Promising Grant Applications
On June 16, the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) released a new video to show grant applicants and others how NIH assesses the over 80,000 grant applications it receives each year to help find those with the most merit. CSR also has released a companion video entitled, "NIH Tips for Applicants," where reviewers and NIH staff members provide tips to new grant applicants. Both videos incorporate many of the recent enhancements to the NIH peer review and grants systems. They replace a similar CSR video that has been viewed by thousands online and used by hundreds of research institutions across the country and abroad to train and educate new and established researchers.
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Military Top Brass Called to Testify on Mental Health
Representatives from all branches of the military were called before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week to testify on the prevalence, causes, and strategies regarding suicide in our armed forces. In attendance were Gens. Peter Chiarelli, Carrol Chandler, James Amos and Adm. Jonathan Greenert, along with Dr. Robert L. Jesse of the Veterans Administration. While the number of suicides among active-duty Soldiers has fallen, the Army's vice chief told lawmakers that the progress is not enough. Chiarelli said he hopes the Army's adoption of telehealth among other new technology initiatives could help lower the number of misdiagnoses of TBI and PTSD.
To read witness testimony and view an archived web cast of the hearing, click here |
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