To keep pace with important discoveries in bio-medical research, APA asked Congress last month for significant increases to the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the budgets of institutes conducting research on mental illness and addiction disorders in Fiscal 2001.

APA Medical Director Steven M. Mirin, M.D., urged the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services and Education Appropriations to continue its support of NIH by increasing its Fiscal 2001 budget by 15 percent, for a total of $10.5 billion.

"Working with the Ad Hoc Group on Medical Research Funding and key allies in Congress, we are in the third year of our five-year campaign to double the NIH budget. We have been successful in producing 15 percent increases annually since we began our campaign," said Mirin in a written statement.

Mirin also requested significant increases in the budgets of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

"To capitalize on exciting new developments in neuroscience, genetics, and medication development, APA supports increasing the NIMH budget in Fiscal 2001 by 24 percent, to $1.2 billion. This will allow NIMH to maintain its present commitments and expand its research on children’s mental disorders, school violence, and reducing the disparities in mental health care of women and ethnic minorities," testified Mirin.

He also recommended increasing the NIDA budget by 22 percent in Fiscal 2001, for a total of $838 million. "This level of investment will allow for the acceleration of several critical initiatives including the recently developed clinical trials network, and research on molecular genetics and brain imaging," said Mirin.

He also requested an increase of 44 percent for the NIAAA budget for a total of $411 million for Fiscal 2001.

"APA supports the high priority NIAAA places on researching the genetics of alcoholism. We now know that susceptibility to alcoholism is genetic, but more research is needed to identify the specific genes involved. This will pave the way for effective treatment and ultimately prevention," said Mirin.

APA also recommended the following increases for specific programs in the Fiscal 2001 budget of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA):

• $475 million for the Community Mental Health Block Grant program. States can use the grants to provide a range of services for people with serious mental illnesses including community-based treatment, case management, homeless outreach, juvenile service, and rural mental health services.

• $100 million for the Children’s Mental Health Services Program.

• $46 million for the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) state grant program.

• $225 million for the Knowledge Development and Application (KDA) Program and $78 million for the KDA antiviolence initiative.

• $30 million for the new Targeted Capacity Expansion Program, which will establish two grant initiatives. The first one is to reduce risk factors for mental illness, violence, and substance abuse in youth through a broad range of services. The second one is to improve the mental health of children and adults by removing barriers to treatment through, for example, training primary care physicians and substance abuse providers about mental illness and mental health.

• APA, in conjunction with the Friends of the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ), asked the subcommittee to increase the agency’s budget to $300 million for Fiscal 2001, a 47 percent increase over Fiscal 2000.

The AHRQ invests in research that improves health care by developing new ways of measuring health care quality, outcomes, and effectiveness.