Relationship of Regional Medical Programs to Children's Cancer Clinics

Abstract

THE Division of Regional Medical Programs was established about a year ago in the National Institute of Health to implement the legislation known as Public Law 89-239 or the Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke Amendments of 1965. This has been a very busy Division and, by the end of this calendar year, we shall probably have awarded about 40 planning grants for regional medical programs involving 38 states, plus or minus. By June 1967 we expect that almost the entire United States will be involved in some kind of regional program, many of which will involve many of you in the audience today. The size of these grants is varied; from one limited to 6 counties to one involving 4 states. The sums awarded have varied markedly according to the population to be served and the needs which have been identified within the regions. Now, what are the Regional Medical Programs supposed to do? What sorts of things have been supported or are considered for support under such grants? In order to understand the potential of this program, I think some reference to the actual wording of the legislation would be important. First of all, the legislation underwent very marked changes during the course of its legislative history and the "regional medical complexes" described in the President's Commission Report, which was published in December 1964, gradually evolved into "regional medical programs" which would originate from local initiative. Now, the legislation says that the purposes of this title are: "through grants to encourage and to assist in the establishment of regional cooperative arrangements among medical schools, research institutions and hospitals for research and training, including continuing education, and for related demonstrations of patient care in the fields of heart disease, cancer, stroke and related diseases.