Newswire Archives
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the health care field added 125,500 jobs in July, increasing nearly 1% to a seasonally adjusted 15.7 million. Office-based providers, such as physicians and dentists, continued to account for much of the increase. Nursing and residential care facilities continued to lose jobs and are about 6.5% below their peak in February 2020.
The report can be obtained at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm.
On Saturday, President Trump took executive action after negotiations over the next iteration of pandemic relief stalled. The President’s action’s, through one Executive Order and three memorandums, would provide a deferment of payroll taxes for most workers, calls for $400 per week in unemployment benefits, would extend moratorium on evictions to the end of the year, and defers student loan payments and interest until the end of the year. The legality of the executive actions is in question and may be determined by the courts, and Congress and the Administration may eventually find agreement on new pandemic relief legislation which addresses these issues.
The Memorandum on Student Loan payment relief may be accessed here. More analysis may be accessed here.
The webinar recording for “Keeping Students Safe in the Age of COVID-19” is now available to watch on-demand. Experts discussed best practices to help keep your healthcare students safe from COVID-19 on-campus but also in their daily lives with jobs, family, and social obligations.
Today the Congressional Rural and Underserved Communities Health Task Force held a bipartisan member roundtable, “Examing the Role of Telehealth During COVID-19 and Beyond”. Participants included: members of the Task Force; Tearsanee Carlisle Davis, DNP, FNP-BC, FAANP, Director of Clinical and Advanced Practice Operations at the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Center for Telehealth and Assistant Professor at UMMC School of Nursing; Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Health Care Policy, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School; Associate Professor of Medicine and Hospitalist, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Keris Myrick, MBA, Chief of Peer and Allied Health Professions for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health; and Jason Tibbels, MD, Chief Quality Officer, Teladoc Health; President, The Institute of Patient Safety and Quality of Virtual Care.
Roundtable Discussion link
Statement from Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal
The College Crisis Initiative (C2i) and Project PRONTO++, initiatives of Davidson College, have made available an interactive map featuring the Fall 2020 plans for academic instruction of about 3,000 institutions of higher education.
The website may be accessed here.
ASAHP joined numerous other associations as part of the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions (FASHP), in urging Congressional leadership to include student loan forgiveness for health professionals in it’s next COVID-19 supplemental package.
The letter may be accessed here.
Details on the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program grants are now available. HRSA’s BHWET Professionals and BHWET Paraprofessionals grants are expected to be posted on November 6, 2020, with an expected application deadline of February 4, 2021. There are expected to be 92 BHWET Professionals awards, with an estimated total program funding of $44.2 million. There are expected to be 37 BHWET Paraprofessionals awards, with an estimated total program funding of $13.8 million.
More information may be found on grants.gov
President Trump on August 3, 2020 signed an executive order with directives to: launch a new payment model for rural health care; develop and implement a strategy to improve rural health care infrastructure; create a report describing policy initiatives to improve rural health; and propose regulation that would extend certain telehealth flexibilities.
The executive order can be obtained at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-improving-rural-health-telehealth-access/.
A report from the Bipartisan Policy Center discusses how to improve experience, outcomes, and well-being for Medicare-Medicaid beneficiaries. Given the lack of coordination in the current system, there also is potential for savings over the long term, primarily in the form of reduced hospitalizations, hospital readmissions, emergency department visits, and post-acute care.
The report can be obtained at https://bipartisanpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/BPC_Health_Integration_of_Care_V3.pdf.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions of higher education have reversed their previously announced reopening plans for the Fall, opting instead for online courses and closed campuses.
Inside Higher Ed’s article may be accessed here.
The Chronicle of Higher Education will be hosting a webinar with expert panelists on the challenges with contact tracing as many colleges and universities prepare to re-open for the Fall semester.
More details and registration is available here.
The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) has announced that it will hold its next Institute virtually on December 1, 3, 8 and 10, 2020. The December 2020 IPEC Institute theme is building interprofessional education for collaborative practice. Early bird registration will open on Wednesday, August 5. The institute focus is to provide health professions faculty and their interprofessional colleagues both quality time and dedicated space for guided learning, team-based planning activities, and consultation with experts and peers in order to emerge with a programmatic action plan for developing and implementing interprofessional education curricula that will prepare students for collaborative practice.
More information may be accessed here.
The Department of Homeland Security announced it would not accept new applications to the DACA program and also limit renewals by current DACA recipients to one year, as it examines DACA’s future after the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year rejecting DHS’ attempt to rescind the program.
The DHS press release and memorandum may be accessed here.
Inside Higher Ed is hosting a webcast, “Curriculum and Assessment Amid COVID-19 and Beyond”, taking place on Wednesday, August 12 at 2:00pm Eastern. The webcast will be hosted by Inside Higher Ed editors Scott Jaschik and Doug Lederman.
Registration and more information is available here.
Today the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) released The Way Forward on COVID-19: A Road Map to Reset the Nation’s Approach to the Pandemic. The report includes 11 evidence-based, immediate and long-term actions that constitute a plan to address the pandemic.
The report is available here.
This week Senate Republicans proposed their latest COVID-19 relief package, several bills totaling just over $1 trillion in spending. The package proposes $105.1 billion for the Department of Education, including $29 billion for higher education. It includes $118.4 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services, with funds for vaccine research and testing. The Senate Republican proposal also includes liability protections, unemployment insurance, and a new round of direct payments. The proposal was deemed inadequate by Democrats, who passed an over $3 trillion package in May and are calling for greater education funding.
Inside Higher Ed Article
Safely Back to School and Back to Work Act Text
Safely Back to School and Back to Work Act Section-by-Section Analysis
Simplifying Student Loan Payment One Pager
Appropriations Provisions Summary
On Friday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued guidance barring new international students from coming to the U.S. for Fall coursework if their classes are fully online. Earlier this month, DHS issued and then rescinded a policy directive requiring that international students must take at least some in-person classes in order to remain in the U.S. ASAHP advocated against the earlier guidance and was pleased to see it rescinded.
More details may be found here.
ICE News Release
ICE Clarifying Q&A for Fall 2020
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has renewed the current public health emergency declaration that is needed to adequately deploy necessary recourses and authorities. ASAHP was part of a joint letter sent to Secretary Azar earlier this month urging renewal of the declaration. That letter may be accessed here.
Although short-term health plans are designed to insure patients for catastrophic medical events, they often lack protections for preexisting conditions and they are accompanied with high out-of-pocket costs. A report from the Commonwealth Fund examines whether these plans have evolved to offer more comprehensive coverage.
The report can be obtained at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2020/limitations-short-term-health-plans-persist-despite-predictions-theyd-evolve?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Health%20Coverage.
On Tuesday, Senator Lamar Alexander, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, introduced the Student Loan Repayment and FAFSA Simplification Act. The bill is intended to simplify the simplify the student loan repayment process as well as the FAFSA application process.
Press Release
Chairman Alexander’s Remarks
One Page Bill Summary
