‘First Wave’ of ARRA Health IT Funds Announced
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (IT) David Blumenthal last week announced the availability of $1.2 billion in funds to assist physicians and hospitals in transitioning to electronic health records (EHRs). The funds, authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will support the Health Information Technology Extension Program, which provides grants for the establishment of regional centers that will provide best practices for health care providers, and the State Health Information Exchange Program, which will provide grants to state to promote health IT. Sebelius and Blumenthal said that the grants are the “first wave of [health IT] grants” and that others will be announced in the near future. More information is available online. Look for more health IT coverage in the September issue of Cardiology magazine.

Medicare, Medicaid Spending Expected to Rise Rapidly, CBO Announces
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced recently that the budget deficit will reach $1.6 trillion in 2009, or 11.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Last year, outlays for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security accounted for about 9 percent of GDP. Outstripping the growth of GDP, spending for those programs is expected to rise rapidly over the next 10 years, totaling nearly 12 percent of GDP by 2019. White House budget director and former CBO director Peter Orszag said that health reform is necessary to reduce the rising Medicare and Medicaid spending. "I know some will say this report proves we can't afford health reform. I think that analysis has it backwards," Orszag said. "Given the long-term nature of that problem, we simply can't afford to wait." The Washington Post has more coverage. The full budget update is available online.

Administration Holds Health Reform Call with Physicians
The Obama administration held a call on August 25 with physicians to discuss their concerns on health care reform. ACC CEO Jack Lewin writes on ACC’s blog, The Lewin Report: “While the call was a great idea -- to get us engaged and accurately informed on their policy recommendations to Congress -- it's tough to pull this kind of communication off well. The reforms proposed are overdue. IF, that is, Congress enacts them.” Read the post in full at http://lewinreport.acc.org/post/Calling-All-Physicians.aspx.

ACC Chapters Take Action on Proposed 2010 Physician Fee Schedule
ACC Chapters across the country have made remarkable efforts to mobilize around the drastic cuts to cardiovascular services proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the proposed 2010 Physician Fee Schedule. More than 1,500 e-mails, faxes, letters and phone calls had been placed to congressional offices across the country. Chapters have sent letters to their entire state congressional delegations and scheduled face-to-face meetings with members of Congress during August recess. The Michigan and Pennsylvania Chapters have hosted “Cardiologist for a Day” events. The Kentucky, Louisiana, Indiana, Maryland and South Carolina Chapters all have events scheduled for the near future.

Meanwhile, the Florida Chapter sponsored a rally of about 2,500 individuals — including hundreds of cardiovascular professionals — in downtown Orlando on August 21 to protest the proposed rule. Event speakers discussed the devastating effects that the implementation of the rule will have on patients’ access to diagnostic testing and quality of care. On the panel of speakers was U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson (D), who promised he would work to stop the cuts from going into effect. More coverage is available from the Orlando Sentinel.