WASHINGTON—VA’s 10-year capital construction plan calls for an investment of $53 billion to $65 billion over that timeframe; however, this year the agency is asking for only $2.8 billion.

WASHINGTON, DC—Even though the overall 2012 budget request for VA includes $50.9 billion for medical care— a net increase of $240 million over the 2012 advance appropriations request of $50.6 billion in the 2011 budget—union representatives are worried that cost-cutting measures may be putting too much strain on VA’s already stretched-thin staff.

WASHINGTON, DC—With a decline in the number of central line associate bloodstream infections in intensive care units, the focus is turning to an area where such infections are burgeoning – kidney dialysis clinics.

WASHINGTON, DC—At the top of the agenda for the 112th Congress’s House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC ) is stricter oversight of VA, something that the new Republican leader of the committee believes has been allowed to lapse.

WASHINGTON,DC—For the first time since federal research agencies began conducting research on Alzheimer’s disease (AD), there is a national plan designed to focus those efforts.

WASHINGTON, DC—Established by Congress in 1997 to respond to the diabetes epidemic in Indian Country, the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) provides funding for diabetes treatment and prevention services for IHS, Tribal, and Urban Indian health programs.

WASHINGTON, DC—If the federal government wants to tackle the full range of after-effects of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, including providing fully for the nation’s veterans, it will need a substantial upheaval in communication between federal departments, according to Maj Gen John Batiste (Ret).

WASHINGTON, DC—In March 2008, when federal officials were quoting a wide range of numbers when citing the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a book was published that calculated an estimated total price tag that included the cost of OEF/OIF veterans’ healthcare and disability expenses over their lifetime. The book, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict, put the total estimated cost at between $3 trillion and $5 trillion—a figure that Congressional reports later agreed with.

WASHINGTON, DC—The federal government is taking every step possible to keep funding flowing to research projects involving the use of embryonic stem cells after a judge ordered a halt to such funding.

BETHESDA, MD—While most of the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act‚ the 2,000 page health care reform bill signed into law by President Obama in March‚ is centered on ensuring all Americans have access to health insurance, there are a number of implications for clinicians, federal and private, and for clinical researchers.

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