AAMC launches chronic care initiative
Twenty-two academic medical centers will participate in a new program to improve the care of chronically ill Americans. The Academic Chronic Care Collaborative, an initiative of the AAMC Institute for Improving Clinical Care, has been launched in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's national chronic illness care program. Institutions participating in the Academic Chronic Care Collaborative will undergo extensive redesign of their chronic care strategies. The program will bring together faculty and teams from each participating institution for three learning sessions over the next 10 months as well as provide monthly telephone conferences and online progress reports. The AAMC Institute for Improving Clinical Care, directed by David P. Stevens, M.D., was established in July 2003 to promote and facilitate improvements in clinical care at medical schools and teaching hospitals. For more information, please visit http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/pressrel/2005/050428.htm.

National committee issues stem-cell research guidelines
A committee formed by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine released a report last week that provides guidelines for the responsible practice of human embryonic stem-cell research. The report included a recommendation that all institutions conducting human embryonic stem-cell research should create an "Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight" committee -- in addition to any previously established institutional review board -- to provide local oversight of issues related to derivation and use of the research.

AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., applauded the committee for "a thoughtful report" and noted that carefully integrating "responsibilities of the proposed institutional embryonic stem-cell research oversight panel with those of the institutional review board and other university research oversight committees is commendable and should reassure the public that this contentious area of research will remain subject to critical and careful scrutiny." For more information, please visit http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/pressrel/2005/050426.htm.

Cover the Uninsured Week begins today
One-fourth to one-half of all uninsured adults in America were unable to see a doctor when needed in the past year because they could not afford the cost, according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released last week. In an effort to bring national attention to the issue of the uninsured, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is conducting its third annual Cover the Uninsured Week campaign this week. The AAMC is a national supporter of Cover the Uninsured Week 2005. As part of this effort, communities across the country will be hosting health fairs, campus programs, insurance program enrollment fairs, seminars for small businesses and interfaith activities. For more information, please visit http://covertheuninsuredweek.org.

CMS proposes Medicare inpatient payment system for 2006
Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced the proposed Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment system for fiscal year 2006. The rule does not contain any major proposals that would affect direct graduate medical education or indirect medical education payments. However, the proposed rule does contain a provision that would increase the number of diagnosis-related groups that would be subject to the post-acute care transfer policy. This policy would increase the number of patients viewed as "transfers" and, according to the American Hospital Association, would result in an $880 million payment reduction for hospitals. Comments on this proposed rule are due June 24. For more information, please visit http://www.aamc.org/advocacy/library/teachhosp/hosp0056.htm.

GAO publishes report on '75% rule' for rehab facilities
The Government Accountability Office has issued a report on the "75 percent rule" for inpatient rehabilitation facilities -- a rule requiring that a facility may only be qualified as an IRF, and thus receive higher Medicare payments, if at least 75 percent of its patients require intensive rehabilitation treatment for one of 13 specified conditions. The GAO report found that, in 2003, only 6 percent of facilities with IRF status were in compliance with the 75 percent rule. The report recommends that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services take three actions: 1) ensure that fiscal intermediaries conduct targeted reviews of medical necessity for IRF admissions; 2) encourage research on the effectiveness of intensive rehabilitation; and 3) refine the list of qualified conditions to precisely define the patients in need of IRF services. For more information, please visit http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05366.pdf.