While practicing rheumatologists face budgetary cuts in Medicare reimbursement, new investigators are facing a challenge of their own. Federal budget cuts and other vanishing funding sources are making it extremely difficult to support their research activities. “Over the past several years, sources of funding for these individuals have become increasingly restricted, with the Arthritis Foundation’s Arthritis Investigator award no longer available and the mentored Career Development Awards (K08 and K23) from the NIH affected by the federal budgetary constraints,” remarks ACR Research and Education Foundation (REF) President Leslie Crofford, MD.
Eye on the Election
Over the past two years, we have heard presidential candidates touting their messages to voters. Each candidate has crafted messages they believe will appeal to voters, and as campaigns continue to accelerate, these messages will saturate the radio, television, and the reading materials of the American public.
Research Funded by Within Our Reach Highlighted
Five Within Our Reach science investigators provided overviews and updates of their RA research projects to the newly formed Within Our Reach advisory board at its inaugural meeting, held November 8, 2007.
Increase NIH Funding, Participate in Advocates for Arthritis
The ACR consistently urges Congress to support issues relating to rheumatologists, rheumatology health professionals, and patients. The primary advocacy goals are: supporting of the “Arthritis Prevention, Control, and Cure Act of 2007” (H.R.1283/S.626) and the “Access to Medicare Imaging Act of 2007” (H.R.1293/S.1338), finding a permanent solution to the Medicare reimbursement issue, and increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—including the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases—and other agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Medical and Prosthetic Research Program.
Disappearing Dollars
What’s happening to federal research funding in rheumatology?
Art and Medicine Converge for the Klemperer Lecture
Growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., Paul H. Plotz, MD, often enjoyed an exciting game of stoopball with friends. Young Plotz took turns beaming a ball at the corner of his stoop, stopping occasionally to allow his father’s patients to enter the front door of his house, which also doubled as his father’s office.
First Round of “Within Our Reach” Grants
The ACR Research and Education Foundation (REF) “Within Our Reach” campaign awarded approximately $6 million to 15 recipients this month.