Advocacy Articles
Updates about legislative and regulatory issues impacting the field of sleep medicine
Earlier this week National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins unveiled the NIH FY 2016 Budget Roll-Out, which requests a program level budget of $31.3 billion.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced on Jan. 26 that HHS has set new goals to transition Medicare reimbursements from volume to value. HHS intends to tie 30 percent of traditional, fee-for-service Medicare payments to quality or value by the end of 2016, and 50 percent by the end of 2018, through alternative payment models such as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) or bundled payment arrangements.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that on March 2, 2015, it will publish new medical guidance for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in the FAA Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners (AMEs).
The Metro-North New York commuter railroad will hire a firm to screen and test engineers for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), following a deadly crash that was caused by fatigued engineer who had undiagnosed sleep apnea.
This week, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved the nomination of Mark R. Rosekind, PhD, to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Dr. Rosekind was nominated by President Obama on November 19 to head the agency which is responsible for setting standards for motor vehicle and highway safety. The full Senate will now consider Dr. Rosekind’s nomination.
The National Transportation Safety Board has issued its conclusions and recommendations on the Metro-North Railroad derailment that killed four people in the Bronx on Dec 1, 2013. The NTSB concluded that driver fatigue caused the deadly derailment, and that primary care physicians need better training to identify sleep disorders to prevent future drowsy driving accidents.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has joined other members of the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research in signing a letter that urges Congress to restore funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to pre-sequestration levels.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) invites suggestions of additional objectives for Sleep Health and the other topic areas of Healthy People 2020. All proposed new objectives must meet each of the selection criteria, including the availability of a data source or potential data source. Comments must be submitted by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 7, 2014.
More publicly traded insurers are planning to sell coverage through the ACA's exchanges during the upcoming enrollment period. According to Health and Human Service data, 77 new insurers will be entering the exchanges in the 44 states that made such data available.
AASM members are encouraged to attend the highway safety forum, Awake, Alert, Alive: Overcoming the Dangers of Drowsy Driving, which will be held Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Conference Center in Washington, D.C. Invited panelists, including AASM President-Elect Dr. Nathaniel Watson, will examine the risk factors associated with drowsy driving and address the challenges associated with mitigating the risk of drowsy driving among noncommercial drivers. The free event is open to the public, and no preregistration is required.