Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/354332
ByMatthewDaly AssociatedPress WASHINGTON Abipartisan deal to improve veterans' health care would authorize at least $17 billion to fix the health program scandalized by long patient wait times and falsified records cover- ing up delays, the bill's chief supporters said Monday. The agreement includes $10 billion in emergency spending to make it easier for veterans who can't get prompt appointments with Veterans Affairs doctors to obtain outside care; $5 bil- lion to hire doctors, nurses and other medical staff; and about $1.5 billion to lease 27 new clinics across the coun- try, the chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees said. The bill also would ex- pand a scholarship program for veterans to include sur- viving spouses of military members who died in the line of duty, allow all vet- erans to qualify for in-state college tuition, and grant the VA secretary authority to immediately fire senior executives, while provid- ing employees with stream- lined appeal rights. The bill "makes certain that we address the imme- diate crisis of veterans be- ing forced onto long wait- ing lists for health care," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of the Sen- ate Veterans Affairs panel. The bill also "strength- ens the VA so that it will be able to hire the doctors, nurses and medical person- nel it needs so we can per- manently put an end to the long waiting lists," Sanders said at a news conference with Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., his House counterpart. Sanders and Miller reached agreement on the plan over the weekend af- ter more than six weeks of sometimes testy talks. The compromise mea- sure would require the De- partment of Veterans Af- fairs to pay private doctors to treat qualifying veter- ans who can't get prompt appointments at the VA's nearly 1,000 hospitals and outpatient clinics, or those who live at least 40 miles from one of them. The bill would limit the number of veterans who can get out- side care by restricting it to those who are enrolled as of Aug. 1. The proposed restric- tions are important in con- trolling costs for the pro- gram. Congressional bud- get analysts had projected that tens of thousands of veterans who currently are not treated by the VA would likely seek VA care if they could see a private doctor paid for by the government. The deal requires a vote by a conference committee of House and Senate nego- tiators, and votes in the full House and Senate. The legislation is in- tended to reform the Vet- erans Affairs Department, which has been rocked by reports of patients dying while awaiting VA treat- ment and mounting evi- dence that workers falsi- fied or omitted appoint- ment schedules to mask frequent, long delays. The resulting election-year fire- storm forced VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign in late May. Louis Celli, legislative director for the American Legion, the nation's larg- est veterans group, said the deal would provide crucial help to veterans who have been waiting months or even years for VA health care. "There is an emergency need to get veterans off the waiting lists. That's what this is all about," Celli said Sunday. Tom Tarantino, chief policy officer of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veter- ans of America, said the agreement was good news — although several months late. "It's about time they're doing their jobs," he said of Sanders, Miller and other members of Congress. "You don't get a medal for doing your job." Veterans waiting two months for medical ap- pointments "don't care about all this back and forth" in Congress, Tar- antino said. "That's what should be driving deci- sions." An updated audit by the VA this month showed that about 10 percent of veter- ans seeking medical care at VA hospitals and clinics still have to wait at least 30 days for an appointment. About 46,000 veterans have had to wait at least three months for initial appoint- ments, the report said, and an additional 7,000 veter- ans who asked for appoint- ments over the past decade never got them. Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson has said the VA is making improve- ments, but said veterans in many communities still are waiting too long to receive needed care. The VA provides health care to nearly 9 million en- rolled veterans. The House and Senate are set to adjourn at the end of the week until early September, and lawmakers from both parties have said completing a bill on veter- ans' health care is a top pri- ority. AGREEMENT Dealtoimproveveterans'healthcarecosts$17billion ASSOCIATEDPRESS Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., le , shakes hands with House Veterans Affairs Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., on Capitol Hill in Washington on Monday, July 28, 2014, during a news conference as they outlined their agreement on a compromise plan to fix the vast health care system responsible for treating the nation's veterans. By Lindsey Tanner AP Medical Writer CHICAGO A costly drug given mostly to premature babies is at the center of a clash between the manufac- turer and the nation's lead- ing pediatrician's group, which recommends scaling back use of the medicine. The dispute involves new guidelines from the Ameri- can Academy of Pediatrics, which say medical evidence shows the drug benefits few children other than very young preemies. The medi- cine guards against a com- mon but usually mild virus that can cause serious lung problems. It's the second time in two years that the influ- ential group has recom- mended narrowing use of the drug, sold by Med- Immune under the brand name Synagis (SIN'-uh-jis). MedImmune is fighting back with full-page news- paper ads that say the up- dated policy threatens "our most vulnerable babies." Synagis protects against RSV, or respiratory syncy- tial (sin-SISH'-uhl) virus, which infects nearly all U.S. children by the age of 2. For most, it causes only mild, cold-like symptoms. But it is also the most com- mon cause of pneumonia in U.S. infants, and as many as 125,000 young children are hospitalized with RSV each year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was approved in 1998 for use in certain "high- risk" children, based on research showing benefits for certain children includ- ing premature infants born at 35 weeks or earlier. The pediatricians' group says it has sought to provide more specific guidance because the government's definition of high risk is vague. The medicine is given in a series of seasonal injections costing thousands of dol- lars, and a recent lag in Syn- agis sales may explain Med- Immune's tactics, which in- clude recruiting parents to help tout the drug. Sales for the first quarter of 2014 to- taled $328 million, down 19 percent from $414 mil- lion in the same period last year, according to an earn- ings report from parent company AstraZeneca. Company spokeswoman Alisha Martin said it placed full-page ads in The New York Times and several other newspapers because "we felt it important to in- form parents — including the half-a-million women who give birth prematurely each year — of the decisions being made that could im- pact the lives of their chil- dren." Studies show the drug can slightly reduce risks for being hospitalized but doesn't shorten hospital stays or lessen chances for long-term complications or death, said Dr. H. Cody Meissner, a member of an academy committee in- volved in drafting the new guidance and an infectious disease expert at Tufts Med- ical Center. Advances in treatment for preemies in recent years make Synagis, also known as palivizumab (pah-lih- VIH'-zu-mahb), unneces- sary for many, the acad- emy says. Its new guidance recommends it only for: in- fants born before 29 weeks; older preemies with chronic lung disease and those with certain heart problems; and certain other at-risk chil- dren younger than age 2. Healthy older preemies should not get the drug, the academy says in guidelines published online Monday. Its 2012 advice included use in some older, healthy preemies. Melony Sorbero, a senior Rand Corp. researcher, has studied RSV and said the academy's narrowed rec- ommendations make sense based on scientific evidence of limited benefits. MedImmune's newspa- per ads say the new guide- lines will leave about 140,000 infants born be- tween 29 and 35 weeks "unprotected." The ads say: "Why put these babies at risk?" They include a photo of a tiny preemie hooked up to medical machinery. A Washington, DC-area mother, Deb Discenza, has helped the drugmaker lo- cate parents to partici- pate in a MedImmune RSV awareness program and says she was paid for sharing information about her daughter's experience. Her daughter was born at 30 weeks, or about two months early, in 2003. The baby may not have qualified for the medicine under the academy's new guidance but her mother believes Synagis treatment that first year "is what saved us." The little girl's doctor de- clined to offer the drug af- ter she turned 1, and she de- veloped asthma. Discenza believes Synagis might have prevented it. DISPUTE Virus drugmaker fights pediatrician group's new advice Endsnoring Anestimated80millionpeoplein North America snore. Taking into account the snorer's spouse and children, as many as 160 million people are negatively affected by snoring. Snoring not only interrupts your sleep cycle, it can also be a symptom of a condition called sleep apnea. Fortunately, there are cost-effective oral appliances for snoring and sleep apnea that dentists can prescribe to their patients. Traditional mandibular advancement appliances, such asSilentNightSlide-Link,TAP, EMA, help reduce or eliminate snoring by moving the lower jaw forward, opening the airway to allow air to flow more freely. CALL DR. RANDAL ELLOWAY IF YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM SNORING OR SLEEP APNEA. HE WILL BE GLAD TO DISCUSS YOUR SYMPTOMS. PROVIDE YOU WITH THE OPTIMUM APPLIANCE TO HELP YOU SLEEP PEACEFULLY AND WITH SECURITY. CALL (530) 527-6777 OFFICE HOURS MON-THURS 8-5 • FRI 8-12. EVERY OTHER WED 10-7 2426 South Main St., Red Bluff CA HEALTH » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, July 29, 2014 MORE ATFACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4