News Briefs: Government Updates

This roundup includes the following brief government updates:

President Obama has nominated Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., a geneticist and physician, as the new head of the NIH.

Collins ran the agency's National Human Genome Research Institute for 15 years before stepping down last August. He is a strong proponent of using the genomics revolution to promote better and safer clinical care, an approach known as personalized medicine.

An internal medicine physician, Collins is credited with developing a technique for identifying genes and using that technique to identify genes associated with cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis and other conditions. He also guided the government's Human Genome Project to its completion in April 2003. Collins was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian honor -- in 2007 for his genetics research.

If confirmed by the Senate, Collins would head the NIH's 27 institutes and centers and oversee a $31 billion annual budget. He would succeed interim NIH Director Raynard Kington, M.D., Ph.D.

Uninsured Americans accounted for nearly one-fifth, or 24 million, of the 120 million hospital-based ER visits in 2006, according to representative data released by the HHS.

"Our health care system has forced too many uninsured Americans to depend on the emergency room for the care they need," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a prepared statement about the release of the data. "We cannot wait for reform that gives all Americans the high-quality, affordable care they need and helps prevent illnesses from turning into emergencies."

The data are based on the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, which gathers information about ER care in the United States. The database generates national estimates on the number of ER visits in all community hospitals by region, urban and rural location, teaching status, ownership, and trauma designation. It also provides in-depth information on acute management of patients for all visits, including why patients were seen in the ER, the treatments they received, the cost of their care and who was billed. In addition, the database lists what happened to patients at the end of their visit -- whether they were admitted to the hospital, sent home, or died in the ER.