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By Jan D. Zieren, DO, MPH, FACOFP
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April 8, 2009
House and Senate Approve FY 2010 Budget Resolutions
The House and Senate both approved their FY 2010 budget resolutions late last Thursday night. The annual budget resolutions passed by Congress set spending level guidelines for the Federal government, but do not contain specific legislative language. Both the House and Senate resolutions contain "deficit-neutral reserve funds" for health care reform, but do not provide any more specific methods of how to achieve such reform.
The Senate adopted their $3.534 trillion budget outline for FY 2010 by a vote of 55-43. No Republicans voted in favor of the budget outline. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) also opposed it.
In the House, the resolution was agreed to by a vote of 233-196. 20 Democrats and all Republicans voted against the resolution. The resolution directs the Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor Committees to each produce $1 billions in savings, referred to as "reconciliation instructions." Reconciliation is a procedural tactic that would enable legislation to pass the Senate with only 51 votes, avoided a potential filibuster by Republicans. Similar legislation is not included in the Senate version.
The use of reconciliation would signal that Democratic leaders plan to pass health care reform without Republican support. Both resolutions contain provisions focusing on health system reform, Medicare physician payments, and physician workforce. The bills will require a conference committee to resolve their differences. The House and Senate will appoint conferees and the conference committee will convene following the spring recess, which extends through April 19th.
Starting New Residency Programs an ACOFP Priority -
You Can Help!
Starting new osteopathic family medicine residency programs is essential for our profession's long-term success. Even though our current programs are only filling half their positions, the anticipated influx of both osteopathic and allopathic medical school graduates requires that we begin developing programs now so that they are in place when forecasts become reality.
The focus of a new Board Task Force on Residency Program Development, chaired by ACOFP President-elect Dr. Kenneth Heiles, will be to open programs in geographic areas where students would like to practice in the future and where no programs now exist.
If you would like to explore how to start an osteopathic family practice residency program in your geographic area, please contact ACOFP Executive Director Mr. Peter Schmelzer.
In the past year, the ACOFP has opened 19 new osteopathic family medicine residency programs, and seven more are in the approval pipeline this month. Presently, there are 164 osteopathic family practice residency programs, half of which are considered "dual" with allopathic residencies.
Need CME? Check out ACOFP's Intensive Update & Board Review Available on CD
This three-disk CD set provides a focused, patient-care oriented review delivered by family physician faculty with expertise in specific topic areas such as metabolic syndrome, asthma and congestive heart failure. This program is anticipated to receive approval for 16 American Osteopathic Association Category 1-B CME credits, pending approval by the AOA CCME.
Note: This presentation is split among 3 CD's that are each viewed separately only on a computer. For a proper viewing experience, you should have a PC computer with at least 128 mb of RAM, at least a 1 gb processor, a CD drive, and a working set of speakers or head phones.
Back to Campus
West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine ACOFP Student Chapter President William B Smith, played an essential role at the WVSOM Hospital Day at the Greenbrier Hotel. Hospital Day is a combination information resource for students when selecting their third year base site, and residency fair for long term planning. Chapter students staffed the registration desk, provided general support for the hospitals and base sites, and conducted the door prize drawing for the student participants.
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