AANA Federal Government Affairs
HOTLINE
Number 2005-04, Week of Monday, February 21, 2005
In This Issue:
* President Signs Class-Action Bill
* HHS Secretary Leavitt Testifies on Medicaid
* Ensign and Gregg Introduce Two New Medical Liability Bills
* Bush Nominates Crawford to Head FDA
* Amendments
>> President Signs Class-Action Bill
On Friday (February 18th) President Bush signed a class-action lawsuit reform
bill (S 5) after the House on Thursday (February 17th) voted 279-149 to approve
the legislation (Washington Post, 2/18). The legislation is regarded by medical
liability reform supporters as a first step in helping to pass meaningful medial
liability reform to help further ensure that CRNAs are able to provide care
those in need.
The class action bill seeks to prevent "forum shopping," a practice under which
attorneys file lawsuits in jurisdictions that often favor plaintiffs. The
legislation also would shift class-action lawsuits from state to federal courts
in cases in which more than $5 million is in dispute or in which plaintiffs and
defendants reside in different states. (USA Today, 2/18).
For more info,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33211-2005Feb17.html
Also see,
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20050218/1b_lawsuits18.art.htm
To view bill,
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.5:
>> HHS Secretary Leavitt Testifies on Medicaid
On Thursday (February 17th), Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike
Leavitt testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the state of
Medicaid. This federal-state healthcare program for the indigent is important to
CRNAs in that through Medicaid benefits determined by each State, the program
helps funds anesthesia services for beneficiaries' childbirths in the U.S.
Leavitt remarked that Medicaid spending could double in the next 10 years if
Congress does not act to reform the system. Leavitt stated that the federal
government could save $60 billion in Medicaid spending over the next 10 years by
closing "loopholes" that allow middle-class seniors to receive benefits,
prohibiting what he called "accounting gimmicks" used by states to receive more
federal matching funds and eliminating excessive spending on items such as
prescription drugs. This has the possibility to affect CRNAs negatively in
regards to the actual services that will be cut. The administration has said the
policy changes in the FY 2006 budget would lower Medicaid's spending growth rate
to 7.3% over the next decade. The proposed policy changes, combined with the
readjusted spending estimates, mean federal Medicaid spending will be $133
billion lower over the next decade than the administration had previously
projected.
See the Energy and Commerce Committee Press Release,
http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/News/02172005_1442.htm
For more info,
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5225762.html
For basic information about Medicaid,
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicaid/
>> Ensign and Gregg Introduce Two New Medical Liability Bills
Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Judd Gregg (R-NH), who introduced the HEALTH Act
(S 354) medical liability reform bill in the Senate on February 10th, have also
introduced narrower liability reform bills dealing specifically with women and
obstetrics (S 366), and women and emergency/trauma services (S 367).
Ensign Medical Liability Web Release,
http://ensign.senate.gov/issleg/issues/medical_liability_reform.htm
Las Vegas Sun Press Release,
http://ensign.senate.gov/issleg/issues/record.cfm?id=224274&
To view the bills,
http://thomas.loc.gov/
>> Bush Nominates Crawford to Head FDA
On Monday (February 14th), President Bush nominated Acting Commissioner Lester
Crawford as the permanent head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
despite "drug safety problems on Crawford's watch that have undermined the
agency's reputation and credibility," (Los Angeles Times, 2/15). For CRNAs this
means that the FDA will once again have a permanent Commissioner.
Crawford has served as acting commissioner or deputy commissioner of the agency
for the past three years. The FDA has had a permanent commissioner for about
one-third of Bush's presidency (Washington Post, 2/15). Bush in 2001 considered
Crawford for the post before nominating current Center for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) Administrator Mark McClellan, MD, PhD. Crawford, who has been
acting commissioner since taking over for McClellan last March, "has made
priorities of speeding crucial drug approvals, protecting drugs and food from
terrorist attacks, and improving the manufacture and safety of medicines" (New
York Times, 2/15).
For more information,
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-fda15feb15,1,2008862.story?coll=la-news-a_section
Also see,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24553-2005Feb14.html
And also,
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/politics/15fda.html
>> Amendments
* The House and Senate are not in session this week. The House will return on
Tuesday, February 29th and the Senate will gavel in on Monday, February 28th.
* Senator Mark Dayton (D-MN) Announces Retirement. Senator Mark Dayton announced
recently that he would not seek reelection in November 2006. Already candidates
have begun scrambling to vie for the job,
including Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-MN), former Sen. Rod Grams (R-MN), attorney and
previous U.S. Senate candidate Mark Ciresi (DFL), and Hennepin County Attorney
Amy Klobuchar (DFL). (In Minnesota, Democrats
are known as "DFL," for "Democratic-Farmer-Labor" party.)
* Nathan Deal (R-GA) Takes Rein as Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health
Chair. Energy and Commerce full committee chair Joe Barton (R-TX), recently
named Nathan Deal (R-GA) as Chair of the Subcommittee on Health.
* CRNA-PAC is calling CRNAs to request financial support to keep our
profession's voice in Washington strong. We won significant victories in 2004 -
boosting CRNA reimbursement, reversing threatened cuts to education funds for
advanced practice nurses, repealing physician supervision from TRICARE and
keeping VA anesthesia care strong and safe. So when CRNA-PAC calls, say Yes!
* Register for the AANA Midyear Assembly April 24-27, 2005, in Washington, DC!
See
http://www.aana.com/meetings/midyear_2005/default.asp for registration and
program information.
* Thanks to all the FPDs and other CRNAs who participated in the AANA Federal
Political Leadership conference last weekend in Dallas.
* For up-to-date Congressional floor & committee schedule information, see
http://thomas.loc.gov/.
>> For More Information
The AANA Federal Government Affairs Hotline is published for the nurse
anesthetist members of AANA each week Congress is in session by the AANA Office
of Federal Government Affairs, Washington DC, 202-484-8400,
info@aanadc.com, Frank Purcell, Senior Director. Copyright (c) 2005 American
Association of Nurse Anesthetists.
(posted 2-24-2005)