Litigation

Brain Injury Legislative Update

By Michael Kaplen

 The following legislative update has been released today by the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA):

ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE APPROVED BY HOUSE COMMITTEES

As many of you know, this week has been both historical and chaotic in the city of Washington.  With the federal holiday on Monday and the monumental inaugural celebration on Tuesday, Congress had just three days to continue their work on pressing items. 

As reported by Congressional Quarterly, two House Committees, Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce, approved economic stimulus legislation on Thursday which included extra funding to support state Medicaid programs, as well as $20 billion dollars to speed up the development of electronic medical records.

In terms of Medicaid funding, the legislation would provide $87 billion of critical Medicaid aid to states, increasing through the end of FY 2010 the share of Medicaid costs the Federal government reimburses all states by 4.8 percent.  This funding is intended to prevent cuts to health benefits in state Medicaid programs at a time when state revenues are declining.  BIAA continues to strongly support this increase in federal support for Medicaid, to prevent states from having to cut back on vital Medicaid services that many individuals with brain injury depend on.

Very importantly, the bill would also extend the moratorium, (which BIAA has been strongly supportive of), on harmful Medicaid and Medicare regulations through October 1, 2009.  The legislation also adds a moratorium on the Medicaid Outpatient Rule.

Earlier today, BIAA signed on to a Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), expressing strong support for the legislation, and commending the House on including these important Medicaid provisions.

Additional funding contained in the stimulus bill to speed development of electronic medical records would be vital for the government to create standards for the technology, implement electronic medical records systems for public insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and pay private hospitals and physicians to do the same. Electronic records are thought to result in both increased efficiency, reducing health care costs, and reduced medical errors.

APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE

FY09 Appropriations continues to stall due to the Economic Stimulus Package that has been the focus of both the House and the Senate this week.  However, because the stopgap funding of the Continuing Resolution, (that extends funding in FY2009 with FY2008 levels) is set to expire on March 6, 2009, Congress must move quickly to pass FY09 Appropriations soon after the stimulus package has cleared.

BIAA RESPONDS TO NEW NIDRR LONG-RANGE PLAN

Last week the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) released a Notice of its Proposed Long-Range Plan for Fiscal Years 2010 through 2014.

BIAA agrees with analysis conducted by Bobby Silverstein, a principal at Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville PC, that the proposed long-range plan is flawed in that it materially departs from previous plans by focusing on one category of research (employment) rather than on all three congressionally directed areas of research (health and function, employment and community participation).

BIAA is committed to working to restore the longstanding balance in the type of disability and rehabilitation research that NIDRR supports, and has accepted a position on the NIDDR working group within the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Coalition or DRRC.

Full post as published by Brain Injury News and Information on January 24, 2009 (boomark / email).