The NIH’s initiative designed to fund approximately 200 grants has flooded the system.  Earlier this week, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced that the NIH has received approximately 20,000 Challenge Grant applications through the Recovery Act.

The unprecedented number of applications is placing a huge burden on the peer review process at the NIH.  I am not sure it he NIH has the capacity to handle all of the submissions. It is likely that the quality of the review will diminish rapidly. In addition, it is likely that this influx of grants will reduce the percentage of fundable grant applications in the fall.

To add insult to injury, the NIH received only a meager increase in their funding for next year.

Something has to give…

Ted Kennedy is making moves, and this time he appears to be serious. A great Op-Ed piece by Kennedy ran in the Boston Globe on May 28th – Titled: Health bill would fix what’s broken

OVER THE LAST YEAR, I’ve seen our healthcare system up close. I’ve benefited from the best of medicine, but I’ve also witnessed the frustration and outrage of patients and doctors alike as they face the challenges of a system that shortchanges millions of Americans.

We have the greatest doctors and medical innovations in the world, but more and more Americans are on the outside looking in to a world of progress and discovery that is denied to them because they cannot afford quality healthcare.

That’s wrong – and it’s about to change.  Read Kennedy’s Op-Ed

According to the Gooznews…

The committee advising the Health and Human Services department on how it should spend its portion of the $1.1 billion for comparative effectiveness research included in the stimulus package has listed cost of care as a major factor to consider when determining what research ought to get done. That recommendation rejects testimony from industry and some patient advocacy groups (mostly industry-funded), who specifically called for eliminating cost as a factor when considering which technologies to evaluate.

Here’s the first of HHS’ five proposed criteria:

1. Potential Impact (based on prevalence of condition, burden of disease, variability in outcomes, and costs of care)

Be sure to submit feedback prior to June 10, 2009. HHS Feedback Form