Executive
and Congressional News
- The White
House announced that President Obama signed into law H.R. 1377 on Feb.
1, 2010.
This law expands
veteran eligibility for reimbursement by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
for emergency treatment furnished in a non-department facility, and
for other purposes.
- On Feb.
4, 2010, Scott Brown (R-MA) was sworn in as the next Massachusetts senator,
replacing the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
Military Health
Care News
- The Department
of Defense (DoD) Office of the Undersecretary of Personnel and Readiness
announced that, effective Feb. 1, 2010, Ellen Embrey, acting assistant
secretary of defense for health affairs,
left her position and that Mr. Allen Middleton will perform the statutory
duties of the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.
Mr. Middleton will not assume the
title of “acting” but will remain the director of financial plans
and policy. In addition, Mr. Middleton will assume the title
and role of acting director of TRICARE Management Activity.
Mr. William T. Bester will assume
the title and role of acting principal deputy assistant secretary of
defense for health affairs and acting principal deputy director of TRICARE
Management Activity. In Mr. Middleton’s absence, he may perform the
duties of assistant secretary of defense for health affairs and director
of TRICARE Management Activity.
- On Feb
1, 2010, President Barack Obama sent to Congress a proposed defense
budget of $708 billion for fiscal 2011.
The budget request for the Department
of Defense (DoD) includes $549 billion in discretionary budget authority
to fund base defense programs and $159 billion to support overseas contingency
operations (OCO), primarily in Afghanistan and Iraq. This proposal continues
the reform agenda established in last year's DoD budget request and
builds on the initiatives identified by the 2010 Quadrennial Defense
Review (QDR) and 2010 Ballistic Missile Defense Review (BMDR).
The fiscal 2011 base budget request
represents an increase of $18 billion over the $531 billion enacted
for fiscal 2010. This is an increase of 3.4 percent, or 1.8 percent real
growth after adjusting for inflation. DoD said it needs modest real growth
to maintain, train, and equip the forces that sustain wartime efforts.
- Continued increases for care
and support of wounded, ill, and injured service members. The FY 2011
request also includes $1.1 billion for the treatment, care, and research
of Traumatic Brain Injuries and Psychological Health (TBI/PH) issues.
- The FY 2011 budget request
includes $50.7 billion (including $30.9 billion for the Defense Health
Program) to fully fund the military health system, which currently serves
9.5 million eligible beneficiaries
- The FY 2011 budget supports
programs to prevent and treat mental illness and includes $0.3 billion
to support efforts to modernize the department’s electronic health
record and medical information technology infrastructure, while partnering
with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the private sector to pursue
the administration’s goal of building a Virtual Lifetime Electronic
Record (VLER).
To view the entire fiscal 2011 budget
proposal, please visit http://www.budget.mil and download the "FY 2011 Budget Request
Overview Book."
- On Jan.
29, 2010, TRICARE Management Activity announced that the newest
TRICARE Standard and Extra handbook is available to all TRICARE
Standard beneficiaries.
The 68-page handbook includes information
on accessing routine, urgent and emergency care, as well as TRICARE’s
prior authorization and referral requirements. Also provided are sections
on what’s covered by TRICARE Standard’s health and pharmacy benefits,
and how to coordinate TRICARE with other health insurance. Information
on claims, appeals, grievances, reporting fraud and abuse and more is
contained in the new TRICARE Standard handbook.
TRICARE Standard and Extra are available
to family members of active duty service members, retired service members
and their families and others including those who purchase TRICARE Reserve
Select. With TRICARE Standard, beneficiaries manage their own health
care and have the freedom to seek care from any TRICARE-authorized provider.
TRICARE Extra provides discounted cost-shares for seeking care from
network providers.
- Irwin Army
Community Hospital (IAHC), located at Fort Riley, Kan., was selected
as the recipient of the Surgeon General’s Excalibur award in the active
component military treatment facility category for its success in improving
its physical evaluation board process and decreasing the rate of returned
board packets.
The results of the process improvement
took IACH from being one of the worst MTFs in the Army for return rates
to being one of the best in the Army.
This is the first time IACH submitted
a performance improvement initiative for consideration by the Office
of the Surgeon General, according to Deanna Wolnik, chief of quality
management in the clinical operations division.
The process improvement began when
IACH’s return rate — cases submitted but rejected because of incorrect
or missing data — was as high as 39 percent.
IACH consistently has maintained
a return rate below the OTSG and Medical Command standard of 10 percent
for the past four years.
- The U.S.
Defense Department released its 2010
Quadrennial Defense Review, which announced that it intends to
enhance its capabilities to prevent the spread and use of weapons of
mass destruction.
Means of addressing those dangers
include securing or eliminating potential weapons materials, tight scrutiny
of potentially deadly agents and delivery systems and countermeasures
against an attack, according to the report.
Also on the agenda are creation of
"countermeasures, defenses and mitigation strategies" intended
to persuade enemies against using biological or chemical warfare materials.
- Opening of a "Joint Task
Force Elimination Headquarters" that would be used to prepare and
train for and conduct anti-WMD activities and provide enhance "nuclear
disablement, exploitation, intelligence and coordination capabilities."
- Augmenting resources for research
and development of countermeasures against "nontraditional chemical
agents" that might be used against military personnel from the
United States or allied nations.
- Improving U.S. capabilities
in nuclear forensics, the scientific capability to identify the source
of nuclear material that is seized in transit or used in an attack.
- Safeguarding nuclear materials
around the world by "working with interagency partners to identify
countries that could benefit from site upgrades, security training facilities,
and the disposition of weapons grade materials."
- Broadening the scope of the
biological threat reduction program to involve countries beyond the
former Soviet Union in monitoring and responding to outbreaks of disease.
- Producing new technologies
for monitoring compliance with global nonproliferation regimes.
The review also highlights a significant
number of other issues, including cyber-security, terrorism, climate
change and preparedness for dealing with various concurrent conflicts.
- The
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
(USU) announced Navy Captain Tanis Batsel Stewart, MC, as the University’s
next Brigade Commander. She will officially assume the duties this spring.
Batsel Stewart currently serves as
the director, Emergency Preparedness and Contingency Support, Navy Bureau
of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED), in Washington, D.C. She is responsible
for implementing a coordinated, comprehensive strategy to guide Navedicine’s
emergency management and public health emergency preparedness and response
efforts. She is also responsible for sourcing Navy medical personnel
in support of contingency operations, humanitarian assistance, and disaster
response efforts worldwide, including the Haitian earthquake.
Batsel-Stewart is a former Navy line
officer, and is a graduate of USU’s medical and graduate degree programs,
having earned her M.D. in 1993 and her MPH in 2000. She is board certified
in General Preventive Medicine and Public Health. She holds a certificate
in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from USU, and a master’s certificate
in Homeland Defense from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.
Her career spans operational, research, policy development, and leadership
assignments.
- A new DoD
Instruction will “establish DoD guidance to protect installations
and personnel by mitigating the impacts of public health emergencies.
The DoD Instruction (DoDI) (6200.03), titled “Public Health Emergency Management
Within the Department of Defense,” was signed Jan. 14 by Gail McGinn,
deputy undersecretary of defense (plans), performing the duties of the
undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
The DoD Instruction takes a holistic
approach to public health emergency management, moving DoD toward an
“all-hazards” focus and away from the chemical, biological, radiological,
nuclear and high yield explosive (CBRNE) focus of the past.
The assistant secretary of defense
for health affairs ASD(HA) will serve as the primary advisor to the
Secretary of Defense regarding PHEs and will be the point of contact
for interagency coordination, according to McGinn. The individual services
will ensure commanders work with state and local government authorities,
and ensure that public health emergency management (PHEM) resources
are identified and developed.
In addition to the added responsibilities
of the services, geographic combatant command, military commander, and
the MTF commander, there is a set of general procedures that military
commanders must follow during a PHE.
The new DoD Instruction also incorporates
guidance from and brings the Department of Defense into compliance with
several key documents that have emerged over the past several years,
including the updated International Health Regulations, updated Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) quarantine regulations, the
Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, and the Model State Emergency
Health Powers Act.
While it was written specifically
in coordination within the Department of Defense, the instruction also
was coordinated extensively with offices from the Departments of Health
and Human Services, State and Veterans Affairs.
Veterans Health
Care News
- On Feb
1, 2010, the White House announced a proposed $125 billion budget next
year for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The $125 billion budget request,
which has to be approved by Congress, includes $60.3 billion for discretionary
spending (mostly health care) and $64.7 billion in mandatory funding
(mostly for disability compensation and pensions).
- An increase of $460 million
and more than 4,000 additional claims processors for veterans benefits. This
is a 27 percent funding increase over the 2010 level.
- $5.2 billion for mental health,
an increase of $410 million (or 8.5 percent) over current spending,
enabling expansion of inpatient, residential and outpatient mental health
services, with emphasis on making mental health services part of primary
care and specialty care.
- $250 million to strengthen
access to health care for 3.2 million veterans enrolled in VA’s medical
system who live in rural areas. Rural outreach includes expanded use
of home-based primary care and mental health.
The budget provides an increase of
$42 million for VA’s home telehealth program. The effort already cares
for 35,000 patients and is the largest program of its kind in the world.
The 2011 budget provides $217.6 million
to meet the gender-specific health care needs of women veterans, an
increase of $18.6 million (or 9.4 percent) over the 2010 level. Enhanced
primary care for women veterans remains one of the Department’s top
priorities.
During 2011, VA expects to treat
6.1 million patients, who will account for more than 800,000 hospitalizations
and 83 million outpatient visits.
The total includes 439,000 veterans
who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, for whom $2.6 billion is included
in the budget proposal. That’s an increase of $597 million – or 30
percent – from the current budget.
- $6.8 billion for long-term
care, an increase of $859 million (or 14 percent) over 2010. This amount
includes $1.5 billion for non-institutional long-term care.
- Expanding access to VA health
care system for more than 99,000 Veterans who were previously denied
care because of their incomes.
- $590 million for medical and
prosthetic research.
- Continuing development of
a “virtual lifetime electronic record,” a digital health record
that will accompany Veterans throughout their lives.
VA is requesting $54.3 billion in
advance appropriations for 2012 for health care, an increase of $2.8
billion over the 2011 enacted amount. Planned initiatives in 2012 include
better leveraging acquisitions and contracting, enhancing the use of
referral agreements, strengthening VA’s relationship with the Defense
Department, and expanding the use of medical technology.
- Doctors
and diabetic patients don't agree on what part of the patient's health
condition is most important, according to a new study conduct by Ann
Arbor VA Center for Clinical Management Research and the University
of Michigan's Medical School.
Patients seem to focus on problems
like chronic pain and depression, while doctors focus on conditions
like hypertension. The middle ground involves treatment.
Researchers surveyed 92 primary care
doctors and 1,200 patients who had diabetes and hypertension. Over a quarter
of the doctor-patient pairs revealed disagreements about what their
top three health concerns were.
Doctors appeared to be focused on
more long-term issues such as blood pressure, while patients were concerned
about current issues like back pain. Hypertension was ranked by 38 percent
of doctors as the most important condition, but only 18 percent of patients
ranked the same. The study is questioning whether diabetics are having
trouble managing their diabetes because of doctor-patient disagreements.
Diabetes patients, on average, suffer
from at least three chronic health problems, outside of diabetes. Their
doctors therefore, have to diagnosis and treat more than just diabetes,
which causes multiple visits, medications and disagreements. The study
is further encouraging physicians to focus on their patients' needs,
especially when 18 million Americans suffer from diabetes and 5.7 million
are living undiagnosed. The numbers have almost tripled since 1980.
The causes of diabetes range from
age, obesity, inactivity to medical reactions, pregnancy and damage
to the pancreas. The correlation between an increase in obesity and
an increase in diabetes is significant and are among the two leading
health problems in the U.S.
Health Care News
- On Feb.
1, 2010, President Obama sent to Congress $911 billion budget for the
Department of Health and Human Services for fiscal year (FY) 2011. This
is an increase of $51 billion over FY 2010.
The budget proposes $81 billion in
discretionary authority, an increase of $2.3 billion over FY 2010 on
a comparable basis.
- The budget invests $995 million
to address the shortage of health care providers in underserved areas,
increasing funding to expand services at Community Health Centers by
$290 million and allocating nearly $80 million for work to spread the
adoption and use of health information technology.
- The budget makes landmark
investments to fight health care fraud and requests $1.7 billion for
fraud fighting at HHS, including $561 million in Health Care Fraud and
Abuse Control (HCFAC) discretionary funding, an increase of $250 million
over the FY 2010 enacted level.
- The budget also helps protect
families from disease and illness and improves public health, by investing
$1.4 billion to transform the food safety system and help prevent food
borne illness. Other important investments to stop diseases before they
start include $954 million to help prevent smoking and tobacco use and
$20 million for a new initiative in CDC to help prevent chronic disease.
- Additionally, the budget increases
funding for the National Institutes of Health by $1 billion to support
innovative projects from basic to clinical research.
- The budget includes $78 million,
an increase of $17 million, for the Office of the National Coordinator
for Health Information Technology (ONC) to advance the President’s
health IT initiative by accelerating health IT adoption and electronic
health records (EHRs) utilization as essential tools to modernizing
the health care system.
- The budget includes $1.4 billion,
an increase of $327 million or 30 percent, for food safety efforts that
will strengthen the ability of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to prioritize
prevention, strengthen surveillance and enforcement, and improve response
and recovery – key priorities of the Food Safety Working Group the
President established in March 2009.
- The budget includes $3.6 billion,
an increase of $186 million for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS).
- The budget includes $995 million,
an increase of $33 million, to address the shortage of health care providers
in underserved areas.
- The budget includes an increase
of $290 million for further expansions of health center services, including
the creation of 25 new access points in communities without access to
a health center, and will facilitate the integration of behavioral health
into the existing health centers’ primary care system.
- President
Barack Obama's proposed budget includes a $101 million boost in funding
for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The new funding will help pay for
new programs aimed at addressing obesity and diseases in big cities,
a new training program for public health professionals and other agency
expansions.
The CDC also would add about 100
full-time employees nationwide in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1,
although most of the new employees would simply replace current employees
already working as contractors.
The increases are relatively small
given the CDC's proposed overall budget of $10.6 billion and its payroll
of nearly 10,000 workers.
But the proposed boost to the CDC
is significant, especially since other government programs are facing
cutbacks.
- A new $10 million Health Prevention
Corps program that would recruit and train new public health professionals
and assign them to state and local public health departments. CDC director
Thomas Frieden said about 100 to 150 recruits would be trained through
the program, which would be based in Atlanta.
- A new $20 million grant program
aimed at reducing obesity, smoking and other health problems in big
cities. The funding would be used to start wellness programs in up to
10 big cities in the country.
- A $23 million funding increase
for the CDC's health statistics program. The money would be used to
improve national health data collection by helping states increase the
use of electronic birth and death records and by enhancing national
health surveys.
The CDC expects to use about $225
million of funds originally designated for H1N1 for other programs during
the next fiscal year.
- The Lancet has
"fully" retracted a paper it published in 1998 that suggested
a link between measles-mumps-rubella vaccination and the subsequent
development of autism.
The journal's editors point to a
recent judgment by a panel of the U.K.'s General Medical Council that
"it has become clear that several elements of the 1998 paper by
Wakefield et al. are incorrect, contrary to the findings of an earlier
investigation."
The editors say that two claims in
the paper "have been proven to be false." Contrary to the
authors' claims, the patients studied were not consecutively referred,
and the local ethics committee had not approved the investigations.
The editors conclude: "Therefore we fully retract this paper from
the published record."
Asked to comment on the journal's
action, Dr. Andrew Wakefield sent the following statement: "The
allegations against me and against my colleagues are both unfounded
and unjust and I invite anyone to examine the contents of these proceedings
and come to their own conclusion."
- The National
Institute on Aging (NIA) announced that it has committed more than $36.7
million over the next five years to support and expand its Centers on
the Demography and Economics of Aging.
The Centers form a network of universities
and organizations leading innovative studies on the characteristics
of the aging population. The awards, which include some support from
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, renewed support for 11 centers
and established three new ones.
Each NIA Demography Center has its
own set of disciplinary specializations, although research conducted
at the different centers is often interrelated. All centers investigate
aspects of health and health care, the societal impact of population
aging and the economic and social circumstances of older people. Many
centers also conduct research on global aging and cross-national comparisons,
and several are pioneering work on the bio-demography of aging, investigating
the relationships among biology and genetics, health and mortality and
life expectancy.
The NIA Demography Centers provide
crucial information to policy makers to help them understand the aging
population in America and around the world and make decisions that affect
societal programs such as Medicare and Social Security.
The three new Centers, their principal
investigators and research emphasis are:
- Center on the Demography of
Aging, Duke University. James W. Vaupel, Ph.D. Research focus: Bio-demography.
- Hopkins Center for Population
Aging and Health, Johns Hopkins University (supported with Recovery
Act funds). Emily Agree, Ph.D. Research focus: Disability, intergenerational
support.
- Center for Aging and Policy
Studies, Syracuse University. Douglas Wolf, Ph.D. Research focus: Behavioral
responses to aging, public policy, gerontology education.
NIA will support one new center for
two years with funds from the Recovery Act, and two renewed centers
will also receive Recovery Act supplementary funds for one year. The
NIH's Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and Fogarty
International Center also provided funding support for the centers.
Additional Recovery Act funding was also provided by the NIH Office
of the Director.
- The U.S.
Food and Drug Administration approved Tykerb (lapatinib) in combination
with Femara (letrozole) to treat hormone positive and HER2-positive
advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women for whom hormonal therapy
is indicated.
HER2 is a protein involved in normal
cell growth. It is found on some types of cancer cells, including breast
cancer cells. In hormone positive breast cancer, the presence of certain
hormones contributes to breast cancer growth. In HER2-positive breast
cancer, stimulation of the HER2 receptor contributes to cancer cell
growth. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among women.
More than 192,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year.
Women with HER2-positive disease
receiving the Tykerb plus Femara combination more than doubled the time
they lived without the cancer’s progressing, compared with those receiving
Femara alone (35 weeks vs. 13 weeks). Women in the company-sponsored
study were randomized to receive Tykerb plus Femara or Femara alone.
It is too early to determine whether an improvement in overall survival
will be observed in the clinical trial.
Tykerb works by depriving tumor cells
of signals needed to grow. Tykerb enters the cell and blocks the function
of the HER2 protein.
Tykerb was initially approved in
combination with a chemotherapy drug, Xeloda (capecitabine) in 2007.
This combination was used to treat women with advanced breast cancer
tumors with the HER2 protein who had received prior treatment with chemotherapy
drugs.
Reserve/Guard
- As
of Feb. 2, 2010, the total number of Guard and Reserve currently on
active duty has decreased by 474 to
142,834. The
totals for each service are Army National Guard and Army Reserve 112,004; Navy Reserve, 6,973; Air National
Guard and Air Force Reserve, 16,738; Marine Corps Reserve, 6,350; and
the Coast Guard Reserve, 769. www.defenselink.mil
Reports/Policies
- The Institute
of Medicine (IOM) announced it will conduct a study determine the long
term health effects of exposure to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Using the Balad Burn Pit in Iraq
as an example, the committee will examine existing literature that has
detailed the types of substances burned in the pits and their by-products,
and examine the feasibility and design issues for an epidemiologic study
of veterans exposed to the Balad burn pit. The committee will
explore the background on the use of burn pits in the military.
- The GAO
published “Patient Safety Act: HHS Is in the Process of Implementing
the Act, So Its Effectiveness Cannot Yet Be Evaluated,” (GAO-10-281)
on Jan. 29, 2010. This report
describes progress by the Department of Health and Human Services, Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to implement the Patient
Safety Act by creating a list of Patient Safety Organizations (PSO)
so that these entities are authorized under the Patient Safety Act to
collect patient safety data from health care providers to develop improvements
in patient safety; and implementing the network of patient safety databases
(NPSD) to collect and aggregate patient safety data. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10281.pdf
- The GAO
published “Veterans' Disability Benefits: Further Evaluation of
Ongoing Initiatives Could Help Identify Effective Approaches for Improving
Claims Processing,” (GAO-10-213) on Jan. 29, 2010. This report examines trends in VA's disability
compensation claims processing at the initial claims and appeals levels
and actions that VA has taken to improve its disability claims process. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10213.pdf
Legislation
- H.R.4555 (introduced
Feb. 2, 2010): To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish hospital care, medical services,
and nursing home care to veterans who were stationed at Camp Lejeune,
North Carolina, while the water was contaminated at Camp Lejeune, and
for other purposes was referred to the House Committee on Veterans'
Affairs.
Sponsor: Representative Brad Miller [NC-13]
- H.R.4559 (introduced
Feb. 2, 2010): To establish a commission to review benefits provided
by each state to disabled veterans was referred to the House Committee
on Veterans' Affairs.
Sponsor: Representative Larry Kissell [NC-8]
- H.R.4563 (introduced
Feb. 2, 2010): To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
of 1974, Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 to require that group and individual health insurance coverage
and group health plans provide coverage of screening for breast, prostate,
and colorectal cancer was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce,
and in addition to the Committees on Education and Labor, Ways and Means,
and Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Sponsor: Representative Carolyn B. Maloney [NY-14]
- H.R.4568 (introduced
Feb. 2, 2010): To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program under which the Secretaries
make payments for certain treatments of traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic
stress disorder was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and
in addition to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned.
Sponsor: Representative Pete Sessions [TX-32]
- H.R.4569 (introduced
Feb. 2, 2010): To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 relating
to the amount of rental assistance available under the veterans affairs
supported housing program was referred to the House Committee on Financial
Services.
Sponsor: Representative Joe Sestak [PA-7]
- H.R.4571 (introduced
Feb. 2, 2010): To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for
an increase in the amount available for reimbursements payable by the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to State approving agencies, and for other
purposes was referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Sponsor: Representative Joe Sestak [PA-7]
- H.R.4577 (introduced
Feb. 3, 2010): To direct the President, acting through the National
Disaster Medical System, to reimburse States for expenses incurred in
providing treatment for health conditions and illnesses resulting, directly
or indirectly, from the earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010 was
referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Sponsor: Representative Corrine Brown [FL-3]
- H.R.4592 (introduced
Feb. 3, 2010): To provide for the establishment of a pilot program to
encourage the employment of veterans in energy-related positions was
referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Sponsor: Representative Harry Teague [NM-2]
- H.R.4593 (introduced
Feb. 3, 2010): To amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security
Act to waive Medicare part B premiums for certain military retirees
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition
to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Sponsor: Representative Chris Van Hollen [MD-8] (introduced 2/3/2010
Hill Hearings
- The Senate Armed Services
Committee will hold a hearing on Feb. 9, 2010, to examine the
President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2011 for defense
authorization and the future years defense program.
- The Senate Veterans' Affairs
Committee will hold a hearing on Feb. 10, 2010, to examine the
President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2011 for the Department
of Veterans Affairs.
- The Senate Armed Services
Committee will hold a hearing on Feb. 23, 2010, to examine proposed
defense authorization request for fiscal year 2011 for the future years’
defense program.
- The House Veterans Affairs
Committee will hold a hearing on Feb. 24, 2010, to explore the
relationship between medication and veteran suicide.
- The Senate Armed Services
Committee will hold a hearing on Feb. 25, 2010, to examine the
Department of the Navy in review of the Defense Authorization request
for fiscal year 2011 and the future years defense program.
- The House and Senate Veterans
Affairs Committees will hold a joint hearing on March 2, 2010,
to hear the legislative presentation from the Disabled American Veterans.
- The House and Senate Veterans
Affairs Committees will hold a joint hearing on March 4, 2010,
to hear the legislative presentations from PVA, JWV, MOPH, Ex-POW, BVA,
MOAA, AFSA, and WWP.
- The House and Senate Veterans
Affairs Committees will hold a joint hearing on March 9, 2010,
to hear the legislative presentation from the Veterans of Foreign Wars
of the United States.
- The House Veterans Affairs
Committee will hold a hearing on March 10, 2010, to examine the
structuring the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs of the 21st Century.
- The House and Senate Veterans
Affairs Committees will hold a joint hearing on March 18, 2010,
to hear the legislative presentations from AMVETS, NASDVA, NCOA, GSW,
TREA, FRA, VVA, and IAVA.
- On March 18, 2010,
the House Veterans Affairs Committee will hold the 2010 Claims Summit.
Meetings
/ Conferences
- The American Legion’s Annual
Washington Conference will be held on March 1-3, 2010, in Washington,
DC at the Renaissance Washington Hotel. http://www.legion.org/convention/meetings
- The 14th International Congress
on Infectious Diseases will be held on March 9-12, 2010,
in
Miami, Fla. http://www.isid.org/14th_icid/
- AHIP's 2010 National Policy
Forum will held on March 9-10, 2010, in Washington D.C. http://www.ahip.org/links/policy2010.
- The 27th Annual Behavioral
Risk Factor Surveillance System Conference will be held on March
20–24, 2010, in San Diego, Calif. http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/conference/index.htm
- BIT Life Sciences’ 2nd World
Congress of Vaccine: Next Generation Vaccines will be
held on March 24-26, 2010, in Beijing, China. http://www.bitlifesciences.com/wcv2010
- The Battlefield Healthcare
Conference will be held on March 29-31, 2010, in Tyson’s Corner,
Vienna, Va. www.battlefieldhealthcare.com
- The Military Medical Technology
Conference will be held on March 31
– April 2, 2010, in Tyson’s Corner, Vienna, Va. www.miltitarymedicaltechnology.com
- The 10th Annual World Vaccine
Congress will be held on April 19-22, 2010, in Washington, D.C. http://www.terrapinn.com/2010/wvcdc/index.stm
- The Military Health Management
2010 Conference will be held on April 26-28, 2010, in Arlington,
Va. www.MilitaryHealthManagement.com
- The 81st Annual Scientific
Meeting of the Aerospace Medical Association will be held May 9-13,
2010, in Phoenix, Ariz. http://www.asma.org/meeting/
- The Electronic Health Records
Summit will be held on May 24-26, 2010, in Washington D.C. www.electronichealthrecordssummit.com
- The National Conference on
Immunization and Health Coalitions will be held on May 26-28, 2010,
in Chicago, Ill. http://www.ilmaternal.org/ncihc/registration.html
- The Military Healthcare Convention
& Conference will be held on June 22-25, 2010, in San Antonio,
Texas. www.MilitaryHealthcareConvention.com
- The 24th International Congress
and Exhibition on Computer Assisted Radiology will be held on June
23-26, 2010, in Geneva Switzerland. http://www.cars-int.org/
- The CDC 7th International
Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases will be held on July 11-14,
2010, in Atlanta, Ga. http://www.iceid.org/
- 13th Annual Force Health Protection
Conference: "Military Preventive Medicine and Public Health"
will be held on Aug. 10-13, 2010, in Phoenix, Ariz. http://www.theconferencewebsite.com/conference-info/FHPC-2010
|
Additional sponsorship by
