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Mar 18, 2024
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Congress Continues Level Funding Through April 2017 |
Before the Congress
adjourned for recess, it agreed upon, and the President signed into law, a
Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through April 28,
2017. Under the CR, the vast majority of federal programs will receive
the same amount of funding through April 28 that they received under the FY
2016 funding legislation. This fact is true for both the C.W. Bill Young
Cell Transplantation Program (Program) and the National Cord Blood Inventory
(NCBI) as well.
To fund the remainder
of FY 2017, the Congress will have to pass additional legislation. The
House and the Senate were close to an agreement toward the end of the year, so
it may be possible for the Congress to pass further appropriation legislation
beyond level funding. As you may recall, the NMDP/Be The Match ® worked
closely with appropriations to increase funding for the NCBI by $5
million. The NMDP/Be The Match® will continue to push for that amount to
be added through the 2017 process.
At
the same time, the Congress and the President-Elect will need to fund the
government for FY 2018. We will likely see the new administration’s
budget in late February or early March. Once we again, we will need your
support to let the Congress know how important it is to continue funding for
the Program and NCBI.
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Medicare Coverage & Reimbursement Update
As 2016
comes to a close, we reiterate our thanks to all of you who helped secure an
important victory for patient access to bone marrow and cord blood transplants
in the outpatient setting. However, 2017 will be a busy year as we
intensify our efforts to address the reimbursement problems in the inpatient
setting, where the vast majority of these transplants occur. The current
inpatient reimbursement bundles the cost of acquiring the cells for transplant
rather than paying the acquisition costs separately, which is how CMS pays the
acquisition costs for solid organs.
While we
continue to seek a regulatory solution to the problem by working with the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), we will need to engage the
Congress in 2017 for a potential legislative fix and will need your help to do
so. During the next several months, we will need to add your voice to
this effort and will ask you to contact your Members of Congress to tell them
to protect access to bone marrow and cord blood transplants.
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We Want to Learn More About You!
We
are thankful for your participation in our effort to make sure all patients in
need of life-saving bone marrow or cord blood transplant have access to one. To
better empower you to make a difference with federal and state policy-makers
and to bring you more relevant content, we invite you fill out this brief
survey about Be The Voice newsletter. Estimated time: 5 minutes
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Advocate Profile: Julia Nex
Julia, a recent graduate from Western Carolina
University, volunteers her time being a virtual volunteer for the Legislative Relations department at NMDP / Be The Match working on congressional research, tracking cord blood legislation
in each state, and reviewing laws that effect donor leave and tax credit. This
work helps inform our communications with donors, government
agencies, and others
Julia’s enthusiasm for Be The Match began when she ran
across an internship for Be The Match Walk Run Charlotte event. While she was
interning, Julia says “The mission and cause of Be The Match became more
important to me. Working with other volunteers that have also been directly
affected by blood cancer made the experience more real for me.” After the
Charlotte Walk Run event ended, Julia continued to volunteer with us and
describes it as a “spectacular journey”.
“Cancer is one of the most devastating things to happen to
someone; just about everybody knows someone affected by it or knows of someone
who has been,” says Julia “This cause is important because it alleviates some
of the stress, worry, and headache for patients, family members, and anyone
else affected. Volunteering, donating money, participating at events, and
doing anything Be The Match has to offer is a way to make the lives of others that
much easier.”
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