On February 13, 2012, President Obama released his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2013, which has both positive and negative implications for the bleeding disorders community. 

 

The good news is that the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which is under the US Department of Health and Human Services, Maternal and Child Health Bureau funding for hemophilia treatment centers (HTCs) is being maintained at its current $4.9 million level. This funding is used to support patient care, allowing HTCs to provide case management and social work services provided by social workers and nurse coordinators that are typically not covered by health insurance.  

 

The bad news is that the US Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta (CDC) is proposing to support only 50 HTCs instead of the current 135 in FY13 for surveillance activities, like the Universal Data Collection program (see attached). CDC would further cut almost $3 million from the hemophilia program, which supports surveillance at HTCs as well as other research, patient education and outreach programs.

 

NHF is outraged that CDC proposes to reduce the number of HTCs that it will support for surveillance activities. It will dedicate its upcoming Washington Days advocacy event to asking Congress to protect the national network of HTCs.  We will ask Congress, through its annual appropriation process, to restore funding for HTC surveillance and research, and for patient outreach and education programs funded by CDC. 

 

We will need your help to protect the HTC network!  Please stay tuned for an action alert following NHF’s Washington Days, March 7-9, 2012.