From Inside OME July/August 2008 - Vol. 2, No. 7/8 Legislative Updates
(Aug. 4, 2008) Congress and the President responded to urging by AACOM and other members of the health community to implement a moratorium on regulations that would eliminate $1.78 billion in Medicaid funding for graduate medical education. AACOM member colleges contacted their representatives in the House regarding the moratorium. The colleges urged them to ask House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey to include the moratorium on the proposed Medicaid regulations in the emergency supplemental spending bill. By signing the FY 2008 Supplemental Appropriations Act into law, the President delayed implementation of these detrimental regulations until April 2009, when a new administration will be in office.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had proposed rules that would have limited how Medicaid funding could be used. By prohibiting this regulatory action, Medicaid funds will continue to support teaching hospitals charged with training new physicians. The legislation also places a moratorium on other regulatory actions that would have cut Medicaid funding for safety net providers. The only proposed rule that was not included in the moratorium would narrowly define hospital outpatient services.
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