| APAPAC Events
There are no PAC events scheduled for the week of August 16, 2010 |
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DGR Telephone:
703-907-7800 | |
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 Votes to Approve Scaled-Back Extension of Medicaid Assistance
Before breaking fully for their extended district work period, the House and Senate voted to pass a 6-month extension of enhanced federal assistance for Medicaid. The enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) rates, which are the share of each state's Medicaid program paid for by the federal government, were originally enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. They are currently set to expire on December 31, 2010, leaving many states with a gap in their Medicaid budgets at a time of continued high levels of demand for Medicaid services. The bill approved by the Senate (H.R. 1586) would enact a 6-month extension of gradually phased-down assistance for states. Current FMAP rates are set at a level 6.2 percentage points higher than normal for all states, with additional aid for states experiencing very high unemployment. HR 1586 would phase down this assistance to 3.2 percentage points higher than normal from January-March 2011, and to 1.2 percentage points higher than normal from April-June 2011. The FMAP extension is expected to cost $16.1 billion and is fully offset by spending reductions in other programs, including an early end in 2014 to enhanced food stamps benefits that were enacted in the recovery bill. |
APAPAC Launches "$100 Grand Challenge"
We are now less than 100 days away from the critical mid-term elections on November 2, and APAPAC is making a big push to ensure it is in a position to play a major role in shaping the 112th Congress. The goal is to raise $100,000 by Election Day - that's just $100 from 1,000 psychiatrists! Those who have never contributed to APAPAC are asked to contribute just $100. Those who contribute annually are asked to increase their contribution amount by $100. This is the most important year in APAPAC's nine-year history and we need all psychiatrists to be engaged. Your support is crucial to electing candidates who support our specialty and our patients. Please help us reach our goal and urge your colleagues to do the same. If you have any questions about this initiative and how you can help, please contact Scott Barnes, APAPAC Director, at sbarnes@psych.org or 703-907-8581. |
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HIT Behavioral Extension Act Introduced in the Senate
During the week of August 2, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced the Health Information Technology Extension for Behavioral Health Services Act of 2010, which would extend stimulus incentives for physician technology adoption. While the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) contained Medicare and Medicaid incentives for individual psychiatrists and most hospitals to adopt electronic medical records (EMR), it left out numerous facilities in which psychiatrists practice that are critically important for patient care delivery. S. 3709 would correct this by extending ARRA EMR incentives to facilities like public and private psychiatric hospitals, community mental health centers, and other excluded groups. |
Federal Health Funding FY 2011
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $731.9 billion FY 2011 draft spending bill for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education the week of July 26 that includes $169.6 billion for discretionary programs. According to the Committee, the total is $5.9 billion, or 4 percent, more than this year's funding, but $986 million less than what President Obama requested. Most of the funding - $562.3 billion - is mandatory spending for programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
Details of the Senate's measure include:
SAMHSA: Increase of $105.5m over FY 2010; including additional funds for American Indian/Native Suicide prevention ($5.88m which is +$2.94m over FY 2010 level), Primary and Behavioral Care Integration ($40m which is +$20m over FY2010), and a funding for the newly-established Centers of Excellence for Depression ($10m). Funding for the Minority Fellowship Program remained unchanged at $4.29m. NIH: Increase of $1b over FY 2010 for a proposed $32b FY 2011 allocation. Next steps: the House has yet to release details of its Labor, HHS funding bill for FY 2011 and will do so once the full House Appropriations Committee takes up the Subcommittee's draft bill. It is widely expected that the Labor, HHS FY 2011 measure will not see the floor of either chamber until after the November elections. |
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