FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ann-Marie White
Heart Rhythm Society
202-464-3476
awhite@hrsonline.org

The Heart Rhythm Society expressed disappointment about President Bush’s fiscal year 2009 budget request with a statement from Society President, Bruce Lindsay, MD, FHRS. In addition to flat-funding the National Institutes of Health, the President’s budget does not address the broken Medicare physician payment system which will cut physician payments by 10.6 percent beginning July 1, 2008. Visit the Office of the Budget website to learn more.

WASHINGTON, February 8, 2008 — Attributable to:
Bruce Lindsay, MD, FHRS, President of the Heart Rhythm Society —

“The Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), the international leader in science, education, and advocacy for cardiac arrhythmia professionals and patients, expresses disappointment about President Bush’s fiscal year 2009 budget request. HRS is extremely concerned with the Administration’s failure to once again call on Congress to address the broken Medicare physician payment system which will cut physician payments by 10.6 percent starting July 1, 2008 and does not provide payments equal to rising practice costs. Without adequate funding, physicians cannot make needed investments in health information technology and quality improvement efforts to ensure patient access to high quality health care.

“HRS is also disappointed with the President’s proposal to flat-fund the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which will no doubt stifle the remarkable progress biomedical research has made in the detection and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, among many other diseases and conditions. The Administration’s request represents the sixth consecutive year that the NIH budget has failed to keep pace with biomedical inflation. In the past five years, NIH has lost approximately 11% in purchasing power due to inflation. If the President’s FY 2009 request becomes law, NIH will have lost one-seventh of its purchasing power due to inflation.[1] For FY 2009, HRS strongly urges $31.1 billion for NIH, an increase of $1.9 billion over the FY 2008 funding level.

“Cardiovascular disease is the nation's leading killer. Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained heart rhythm disorder and increases the risk for heart disease and stroke. An estimated 2.2 million adults in the United States have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and over 160,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. In addition, more than 250,000 people die each year from sudden cardiac arrest, another leading cause of death in the United States.

“The bottom line is clear: decreased funding for Medicare payments to physicians and decreased research funding for the NIH will detrimentally affect Americans’ ability to receive critical cardiac treatment.”