Obama budget seeks $83.8 billion in discretionary funds for HHS in FY 2016

President Obama’s budget request to Congress seeks $83.8 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Health and Human Services in fiscal year 2016, the agency announced yesterday afternoon. The Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education program would be funded at $100 million, which is $150 million less than the program received in 2015. In addition, the budget proposes $128 million for rural health programs, including $59 million for rural health outreach grants, $26 million for rural hospital flexibility grants and $15 million for telehealth. Other provisions include $255 million for the Hospital Preparedness Program, the same amount as FY 2015; $2.3 billion for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program; $637 million for maternal and child health block grants; and $232 million for nursing workforce development. AHA members yesterday received a Special Bulletin with information on the president’s budget proposals for Medicare and Medicaid. For more on the AHA’s reaction to the budget, see yesterday’s AHASTAT blog post.