AANA Federal Government Affairs
HOTLINE
Number 2005-16, Week of Monday, June 27, 2005


In This Issue:

* House Approves Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill
* Veteran's Affairs Admits $1 Billion Healthcare Deficit
* Amendments




>> House Approves Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill


On Friday (June 24th), the House voted 250-151 to approve (HR 3010) a $602 billion Labor-HHS-Education fiscal year 2006 appropriations bill (Washington Post, 6/25). While the amounts for advanced practice and CRNA education are the same as 2005 levels, this represents a significant victory for CRNAs since the Administration budget had recommended cutting advanced practice education by $15 million, and tight budgets forced severe cuts in many other programs. The legislation also includes language providing a line-item of at least $3 million for nurse anesthesia in FY 2006.

The legislation would provide $142.5 billion in funds for discretionary spending for FY 2006, $164 million less than for FY 2005 and $924 million more than President Bush requested, with the remainder used to fund mandatory programs such as Medicare and Medicaid (CQ Today, 6/24). Among other federal programs, the bill would provide funds for a number of medical research, healthcare and public health programs, as well as funds to implement the new Medicare prescription drug benefit that begins in January 2006. The legislation also would eliminate 57 programs and freeze or reduce funds for many other programs, according to the Post (Washington Post, 6/25). Under the bill, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would receive $28.5 billion for FY 2006 -- a $142 million, or 0.5%, increase from FY 2005 and equal to the amount Bush requested. On July 12th, the Senate Appropriations Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee plans to mark up the Senate version of the bill.

View the bill, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:HR.3010:

Read more, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401562.html




>> Veterans Affairs Admits $1 Billion Healthcare Deficit


The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has an unexpected $1 billion shortfall in its current budget for veterans' healthcare (Chicago Sun-Times, 6/24). Many CRNAs practice in the VA setting. The shortfall came to light during an administration mid-year budget review and "was acknowledged only during lengthy questioning" of Jonathan Perlin, VA Undersecretary for Health, by House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Steve Buyer (R-IN) at a hearing Thursday (June 23rd). Perlin said the VA has used more than $300 million on healthcare from a fund that was expected to be carried over into the fiscal year 2006 budget. Further, he said as much as $600 million originally intended for capital spending will go toward the shortfall (Washington Post, 6/24).

Veterans Affairs officials told Congress that the unexpected shortfall occurred because they had used an inaccurate, two-year-old financial model to calculate their spending requests. VA officials said the model underestimated the impact of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and made other forecasting errors. Perlin said budget forecasts are created two years in advance, meaning that the current year's predictions were made before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Spending growth was projected by VA to grow 2.5% this year but has actually increased by 5%.

Read more, http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-vet24.html

Also see, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301888.html




>> Amendments


* The House and Senate will be in session this week. The House will be taking up the Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (HR 3057), while the Senate will be focusing on the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (HR 2361), sent over from the House, and presidential nominations.


* June 30 is the deadline for FPDs to send us your Lobby Forms! If you have not yet done so, please send us your lobby forms regarding Hill visits during the Mid-Year Assembly. Please fax them to the AANA Washington Office at (202) 484-8408.

* States are using contingency-fee consultants to boost their federal Medicaid funding with "questionable" billing practices, reports the New York Times June 28, quoting from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. Read the Times coverage at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/28medicaid.html (requires free registration, time-limited availability), and the GAO report at http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-748.

* Register for the Spy Museum Reception and Tour! For those of you attending the AANA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, this year, make sure you register for the International Spy Museum Reception and Tour. The event will be held Tuesday, August 9th (8pm-11pm). Proceeds will benefit the CRNA-PAC. See the Meetings page at www.aana.com for more details.

* 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. C 2005 American Association of Nurse Anesthetists.

(posted 6-29-2005)