Washington, DC-U.S. Representative Dave Hobson today announced that funds for local health care and educational programs to benefit Ohio's 7th District have been included in the final budget agreement for the 106th Congress.

"These issues and projects are important for the people of Ohio, our medical institutions and our universities," Hobson said. "The local community and key state organizations proved that these were needed and cost-effective projects and I am glad they became priorities in this legislation."

Senior's Healing at Home Act

The final bill includes the Seniors Healing at Home Act, legislation introduced earlier this year by Rep. Dave Hobson, Rep. Deborah Pryce and Rep.-Elect Pat Tiberi to protect seniors in nursing homes.

The legislation allows seniors who are enrolled in Medicare+Choice plans to have the option to return to their "home" nursing home after a hospitalization. This extends nationally a provision the Ohio legislature had enacted, and had overruled by the federal bureaucracy, and will improve health care outcomes for seniors as well as allowing more choices for nursing home patients.

Children's Hospital GME (Graduate Medical Education)

For years, the Medicare program has supported the training of doctors in hospitals in Ohio and across the nation. However, this federal support, because of the way payments are determined, often paid literally pennies on the dollar to Ohio's independent children's hospitals.

Last year, based on the efforts of the Ohio delegation, with Mr. Hobson and Ms. Pryce's leadership, we improved the formula. However this year, after strong support from retiring Budget Chairman John Kasich, Rep. Pryce, and Rep. Hobson, Congress took the strong step forward to fully equalize payments to children's hospitals and funded the program at $235 million, a dramatic step forward from last year's level of $40 million.

This will directly benefit the children's hospitals in Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus that treat children in Ohio's 7th District, and will ensure that these hospitals will continue to train qualified pediatricians in our area.

Medicare Improvements

Rep. Hobson has worked directly with Ohio seniors, and the health care providers who care for them, to establish areas of Medicare policy that could be improved. He had numerous meetings with seniors and providers in Washington and Ohio, and convened a Health Care Advisory Committee Meeting earlier this year in Lancaster to discuss goals for improvements this year.

Rep. Hobson also worked with the Ohio Hospital Association, and every hospital in his district, to identify areas of improvement, and is pleased that the final bill includes: New incentives and payment structure that will encourage Medicare+Choice options for seniors in the 9 counties of Ohio's 7th District Significant payment increases for Ohio hospitals Improvements to payment policy for nursing homes A solution to the ill-considered proposal to reduce payments for chemotherapy for cancer patients Better payment rates for ambulance service in rural Ohio

The bill also includes $1 million to establish a pilot project, the Project 2000 Skilled Metal-Working Training Initiative. This innovative pilot project will operate in Ohio's Miami Valley, and will partner with the National Institute for Metalworking Standards (NIMS) to implement, on a pilot-project basis, an educational campaign to local schools and vocational programs. This effort will be specifically targeted to non-college bound students as an opportunity to learn an extremely high-paying trade that also allows for continued training resulting in a graduate credential that is portable in the metal-working industry.

Wittenberg University will receive $921,000 through a U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant to upgrade wiring and electrical systems within the university's academic buildings.

Clark State Community College in Springfield and Cuyahoga Community College will receive $806,000 to focus on community literacy. The program will use an existing early childhood literacy center to coordinate early childhood literacy activities and train providers, including Head Start instructors.

The budget agreement was approved Friday by the House and is expected to be signed into law by the President by next week.