The appropriations process is moving at a good pace this year, and the House and Senate have completed much of their work on the FY 2004 Labor, Health and Human Services and Related Agencies appropriations bills. On July 10, 2003, the House approved its version by a vote of 215-208. The Senate Appropriations committee has reported its version of the bill out of committee, but controversy regarding labor overtime compensation rule changes are holding up the bill, and Senate consideration has been postponed until the Senate finishes work on defense and Homeland Security funding.
NIH Funding
The bills include a 2.5 percent increase in NIH spending for FY 2004, appropriating the following spending amounts for Institutes involved in neuroscience research as follows:
The House bill includes language to prohibit the use of federal funds for research involving human embryos. This language also has the effect of prohibiting the use of funds to support human cloning. Other spending priorities contained in both bills include funds for brain tumor, epilepsy and stroke research.
Other Agencies
The bills also appropriate funds for the Health Resources and Services Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for traumatic brain injury, injury prevention, trauma care system development, and stroke prevention programs.
To access the full appropriations reports and their current status in the legislative process go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app04.html. Once there, scroll down to “Labor/HHS/Education”.
Patient Safety Legislation
On July 23, 2003, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously passed S. 720, the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2003. Similar to legislation passed on March 12 by the House of Representatives, (H.R. 663), S. 720 establishes a voluntary and confidential medical errors reporting system. The system would compile, review and analyze the data with the intent of developing and disseminating evidence-based or “best practices” information that would help prevent medical errors and improve healthcare quality. It is anticipated that the Senate will vote on this legislation sometime this fall.
