In a letter to Harold Rogers, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations and Nita Lowey, ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, a large, bipartisan group of House members have urged the Committee to include increased funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in its appropriations legislation.
Specific projects within NIH, such as the Precision Medicine Initiative and the Cancer Moonshot, have large scale implications for the healthcare IT industry.
In the letter, approximately 164 House members urge the House Appropriations Committee, in any forthcoming appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2017, to ensure NIH “receives a funding level of no less than $34 billion, equal to the level approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, in order ort maintain America’s role as a global leader in biomedical research and groundbreaking medical discoveries.”
“We know this funding helps us push the boundaries of scientific knowledge, advance promising research and offer hope to millions of Americans suffering from heartbreaking diseases. Federal funding for this life-saving research is also a key economic driver for our nation, supporting more than 400,000 jobs and generating over $60 billion for new economic activity,” the House members wrote.
The House members also wrote in the letter, “Insufficient funding for NIH has a serious, wide-ranging impact on our nation’s health and our capacity for medical innovation in the 21st century.”
