July 2024
House Appropriations Committee Approves Bill to Fund Research and Public Health Programs and Reform NIH
On July 11, the House Appropriations Committee approved, along party lines, its . The bill would provide a total of $48.581 billion for NIH in FY 2025, the same total funding level provided for NIH and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) in FY 2024. In addition to providing funding for the agency, the bill proposes a set of new structural and policy reforms for the agency, including consolidating NIH’s existing 27 institutes and centers and ARPA-H into a new structure, imposing prohibitions on certain types of research and other activities, and capping reimbursement of facilities and administrative expenses for certain institutions. The bill also contains significant cuts to federal public health programs, including a 22 percent cut in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and eliminating all funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Meanwhile, the Senate appropriations process is moving much more slowly. In mid-July, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved three funding bills as well as overall funding levels for the remaining bills. However, the committee has not yet scheduled any action on its version of the FY 2025 Labor-HHS spending bill.
ASH joined over 220 organization in sending a letter to House appropriators expressing concern about the cuts to public health and biomedical research programs and the incorporation of policy to restructure the NIH into the funding bill. Your elected officials also need to hear directly from you about the impact that research and public health funding has on hematology. Please take a moment to visit the ASH Advocacy Center to urge your representatives to oppose the FY 2025 Labor HHS bill.
ASH Provides Feedback on Senators’ Pay PCPs Act
Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) recently released a (RFI) accompanying the senators’ bipartisan The legislation aims to better support and improve pay for high-quality primary care providers by encouraging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to adopt a hybrid payment model for primary care providers, reduce beneficiary cost sharing for primary care services, and establish a time-limited technical advisory committee (TAC) to advise CMS on methods to more accurately value Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) services.
ASH is continuing to build on advocacy for physician payment reform through this opportunity; ASH met with staff for both Senators Whitehouse and Cassidy to share the Society’s feedback and recommendations and recently submitted comments in response to the RFI. ASH shared support for the establishment of a committee of experts to provide input on evaluation and management (E/M) and non-procedural services founded in evidence-based data and best practices. The Society also shared recommendations for the TAC’s focus and urged the senators to prioritize the TAC’s efforts to first improve the accuracy of the fee schedule upon which new payment models could then be developed.
ASH Comments on Medicare GME Reform
Last month, ASH provided comments in response to the Senate Finance Committee’s  describing improvements to the Medicare Graduate Medical Education (GME) program to address physician workforce shortages across the country. ASH encouraged the Committee to expand and improve the distribution of Medicare-supported GME training positions to rural areas and specialties in shortage. Specifically, ASH recommended that the distribution of slots set aside for primary care and psychiatry or physiatry not exceed the proposed 40% to support solutions that apply to physician shortages in other specialties; ASH highlighted the shortages in hematology, particularly in rural and non-metropolitan areas. ASH looks forward to collaborating with members of the Finance Committee to address physician shortages and improve patient access to medical care.