Renal Policy Express
- April 2003 -
Publisher: American Society of Nephrology       Email: email@asn-online.org
ASN's Recent Policy Activities
Prior to the start of the two-week Congressional spring recess, House and Senate Republican leaders garnered enough votes to adopt a Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 budget resolution. The budget outline places a cap on non-defense spending, suggests half the tax cuts proposed by President Bush, and is silent on a funding level for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The conference budget resolution limits FY 2004 discretionary spending to $784.5 billion, an increase of $18.7 billion (2.4 percent) over FY 2003. The conference committee report calls for $49.6 billion for discretionary health programs, which includes the NIH, and is equal to what the Administration proposed and represents a modest increase of $152 million (0.3 percent) over FY 2003.

Originally, the Senate recommended an increase in discretionary health funding of $3.2 billion (6.5 percent) while the House proposed a cut of $1.4 billion (2.8 percent). The Senate proposal assumed a 10 percent increase for NIH, bringing its budget to $29.7 billion in FY 2004. The Administration has proposed $27.9 billion for NIH for the coming year. Health community advocates are cautiously optimistic that the lack of a reference to NIH funding, in the agreement, provides the House and Senate Appropriations committees’ room to provide an adequate increase close to the Senate’s proposal.

The conference budget agreement removed the controversial House proposal for $265 billion in cuts to mandatory programs such as Medicaid, agriculture, and veterans’ healthcare and research. The agreement also created reserve funds - $400 billion - over the next 10 years to modernize Medicare and provide a prescription drug benefit and $12.9 billion over 10 years to reform the Medicaid program.

The health and biomedical research community clearly and convincingly must advocate for appropriate funding increases. The ASN will advocate for increased kidney disease research and will continue working with coalitions to address the larger biomedical funding issue.

This edition of Renal Policy Express also discusses the annual Renal Coalition meeting and the coalition’s recent efforts, as well as a regulatory issue at the Food & Drug Administration. I hope this issue provides you with a quick and effective means of learning more about the policy issues affecting the ASN.

Sincerely yours,



Paul C. Smedberg


ASN Signs Onto Friends of AHRQ Letter
The ASN recently signed onto a letter from the Friends of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), thanking Chairman Regula and Congressman Obey for their leadership in providing funding increases for AHRQ and requesting continued support for the FY2004 budget. In the letter, The Friends of AHRQ recommended $390 million to continue providing the evidence-based information needed to reduce medical errors, improve access to health care services, translate research into
practice, and more efficiently utilize health care resources. Please read the attached letter we signed.

Renal Coalition Update
The Renal Coalition held an annual meeting in Washington, DC on March 21, where participating organizations discussed opportunities in the coming year. Main agenda items included a review of the history and achievements of the coalition, broadening goals for the coalition, and the establishment of working subcommittees. Coalition members also discussed the Nephrology Nursing Shortage Summit, future meetings with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an annual update formula for the composite rate, and ESRD Medicare issues.

Organizations participating in the meeting included ASN, National Kidney Foundation (NKF), American Nephrology Nurses Association (ANNA), National Renal Administrators Association (NRAA), Renal Physicians Association (RPA), American Kidney Fund (AKF), and American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP).

The ASN hosted another Renal Coalition meeting on April 11.


ASN To Meet With FDA Regarding S-100
The ASN and the Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Foundation's recent letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expressing concern about the marketing practices and promotional materials associated with the System 100 console (S-100) has resulted in an invitation from the FDA to meet with them in May. The promotional materials of the System 100 console (S-100), marketed by CHF Solutions, claim to aid patients in extracorporeal therapy. In our opinion, the S-100 device, which the Food and Drug Administration approved for specific use by cardiologists and their staff who have no formal training in the performance of extracorporeal therapy, is being marketed in a manner not consistent with safe and effective patient care. Read our letter to the FDA and stay tuned to a future edition of Renal Policy Express to learn about the meeting's outcome.


NIH Redirects Money To Boost Research
With the modest increase of $27.9 billion proposed for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s FY 2004 budget, the agency plans to tap the building infrastructure funding to reinvest money used for one-time expenses in the extramural construction program into research. This reinvestment would enable NIH to fund 10,509 grants, up from 10,165.

The Bush Administration envisions utilizing the building infrastructure budget to fund other NIH initiatives.


Physicians Information Resource for Medicare
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services recently announced its redesigned physicians web page, entitled Physicians Information Resource for Medicare. There are many new features including a Physician Listserv and the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Look-up. View the newly redesigned website.
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