Last week, GNYHA continued its effort to convince members of Congress to enact legislation that will provide relief for the health care community from the Medicare cuts contained in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA). On June 22, 2000, GNYHA participated in an educational forum hosted by U.S. Senators Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), and Bill Frist (R-TN), and attended by key Clinton Administration officials, that was designed to build Senate support for teaching hospital relief. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY); John Podesta, White House Chief of Staff; Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, Administrator of the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration; and Jack Lew, Director of the President's Office of Management and Budget, were among those who attended the forum. The meeting was also attended by a number of administrators of academic medical centers, including Theresa Bischoff of Mount Sinai-NYU Health and Herbert Pardes, M.D., of the New York Presbyterian Hospital. The hospital executives urged support for Senator Moynihan's legislation to prevent further cuts in the Medicare indirect medical education (IME) adjustment to inpatient hospital rates, which is currently scheduled to be reduced from 6.5% for every 10% increase in the ratio of interns and residents to beds, to 6.25% on October 1, 2000, and to 5.5% on October 1, 2001. Mr. Podesta and Mr. Lew made it clear that the President's BBA relief proposal repeals the first of these two cuts, and that the Administration is open to working with Congress to determine whether further teaching hospital relief may be possible. On June 23, GNYHA also participated in an educational BBA forum sponsored by the Health Industry Distributors Association in Washington, D.C. The forum featured New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who expressed her strong support for BBA relief for teaching hospitals. GNYHA staff also spoke at the forum -- which was attended by health care suppliers and distributors from across the country -- and urged the distributors to partner with GNYHA and other associations in the BBA relief effort.