CQ's Armstrong Discusses Medicaid Legislation, Senate Hearing On FDA Funding, GAO Report On Hospital-Acquired Infections

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Regulatory Affairs / Drug Approvals;  MRSA / Drug Resistance;  Public Health
Article Date: 22 Apr 2008 - 12:00 PDT

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Drew Armstrong, a health reporter for CQ, examines bipartisan Medicaid legislation cleared for House floor action, a Senate hearing about FDA funding and a Government Accountability Office report examining hospital-acquired infections in this week's "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ."

Armstrong says the Medicaid legislation -- which would block for one year seven different regulatory policies proposed by the Bush administration to cut back on state funding for Medicaid -- has garnered support from Republicans and is now scheduled for consideration on the House floor. However, President Bush likely will veto the measure, and it is not certain if either the House or the Senate would have enough votes to override a veto, according to Armstrong.

Armstrong also says that during a hearing last week, members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee asked FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach how much funding he needs to run the agency more effectively. Von Eschenbach said the agency has requested about $54 million in new funds, but lawmakers want to appropriate more. He also discussed efforts to improve foreign inspections of imports.

Lastly, Armstrong discusses a GAO report that found that government agencies are not doing enough to prevent hospital-acquired infections. GAO recommended that agencies such as CDC and CMS develop clear guidelines for hospitals on how they can fight infections. The report also states that there needs to be better information collecting so policymakers know more on how common the infections are, how they spread and what types of patients are affected. Armstrong says it is unclear whether lawmakers will draft legislation unless they see the need to change how the agencies are doing their jobs (Armstrong, "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ," 4/21).

The complete audio version of "Health on the Hill," transcript and resources for further research are available online at kaisernetwork.org.

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.