Newswire Archives
Today the House Energy and Commerce’s Health Subcommittee passed the EMPOWER for Health Act, H.R. 2781, which reauthorizes Title VII HRSA health professions workforce programs. The Subcommittee also passed the Allied Health Workforce Diversity Act of 2019 as an amendment to the EMPOWER bill. The bill is expected to be considered in full committee next week.
More information may be accessed here, as well as in this week’s previous newswire posts.
A podcast from the Urban Institute addresses the following kinds of questions: Why is overall debt increasing? When is taking on student loan debt a good idea? And what are some emerging proposals to fix our growing debt balance?
The podcast can be listened to at https://www.urban.org/criticalvalue#gatheringstormstudentloans.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Health will meet tomorrow at 10am ET to markup ten health related bills, including H.R. 2781, the Educating Medical Professionals and Optimizing Workforce Efficiency and Readiness (EMPOWER) for Health Act of 2019. The EMPOWER for Health Act of 2019, introduced by Reps. Schakowsky (D-IL) and Burgess (R-TX), would provide a five-year reauthorization for the Public Health Service Act Title VII health care workforce development grant programs and updates language authorizing the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) and the Geriatric Academic Career Awards (GACA) program.
The livestream and legislation may be accessed here.
The memorandum from Chairman Pallone may be found here.
The Committee Press Release may be found here.
On Tuesday, Reps. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) introduced H.R. 3637, the Allied Health Workforce Diversity Act. The bill, which is endorsed by ASAHP and modeled after the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development program, would authorize funding to increase educational opportunities in the professions of physical therapy, occupational therapy, audiology, and speech-language pathology. ASAHP has been working with the bipartisan sponsors of this legislation and industry associations. ASAHP’s support for the bill is noted in the Members press release following the introduction of this bill. Rep. Rush is expected to offer this legislative language as an amendment during tomorrow’s House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Health markup of H.R. 2781, the Educating Medical Professionals and Optimizing Workforce Efficiency and Readiness (EMPOWER) for Health Act of 2019.
The Allied Health Workforce Diversity Act of 2019 may be accessed here, when available.
Rep. Rush’s press release may be accessed here.
The Federal Communications Commission on July 10, 2019 is expected to vote on a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish a new $100 million “Connected Care Pilot Program” to support telehealth for low-income Americans, including veterans and those living in rural areas.
The notice can be obtained at https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-358067A1.pdf.
As the number of people living with a disability continues to rise, health workers are increasingly performing much-needed rehabilitation work without proof of the required education or training. To this end, CGFNS International, Inc. (CGFNS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP) in April 2019 to set the standards for global certification for these health workers and to upgrade education and training programs to support safe and effective rehabilitation care around the world.
An article in the journal Health Affairs discusses the relationship between physicians’ well-being and the in-basket messages physicians receive, specifically, their volume and sources, in the context of reported burnout symptoms and intentions to reduce clinical work time in the upcoming year.
The article can be obtained at https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/pdf/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05509.
The organization FamiliesUSA has produced fact sheets to highlight how seniors and individuals with disabilities in each state would be better able to achieve oral health, overall health, and reduced health care costs and the cost benefits of including oral health coverage in Medicare. Adding oral health coverage to Medicare would help approximately 60 million of the aged and individuals with disabilities in the U.S. to obtain oral health care.
Fact sheets can be obtained at https://familiesusa.org/product/medicare-oral-health-coverage-your-state-would-improve-health-reduce-health-care-costs.
ASAHP joined numerous other organizations with the Coalition to Preserve PSLF in a letter urging Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to use her waiver authority to fix problems with the administration of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. As the Department has been unable to process and approve applications promptly and this has created an additional unintended obligation on borrowers, the organizations ask that Sec. DeVos waive the requirements that borrowers still be working at a public service job when they apply for and receive loan forgiveness,
The letter may be accessed here.
A new report presents final 2017 data on the 10 leading causes of death in the United States by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin. Leading causes of infant, neonatal, and post-neonatal death also are presented. This report supplements “Deaths: Final Data for 2017,” the National Center for Health Statistics’ annual report of final mortality statistics.
The report can be obtained at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_06-508.pdf.
A new report from the Center for American Progress is based on an analysis of U.S. Census data at the county level, which shows that rural areas tend to have low college-degree attainment levels, and that urban and suburban areas often feature wide gaps across racial lines.
The report can be obtained at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-postsecondary/reports/2019/06/27/471242/those-left-behind/.
The associate administrator of rural health policy for the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) during an interview provide information on how HRSA and other federal agencies are working to support approaches, including health care delivery models that promote population health, rural health workforce development, and research and policy focused on rural communities.
The interview can be obtained at https://www.milbank.org/news/how-the-federal-government-in-supporting-state-and-local-efforts-to-improve-rural-health-qa-with-tom-morris/?utm_source=Milbank+Email+List&utm_campaign=06f05c29b8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_06_03_08_51_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_dbce9df54c-06f05c29b8-74927185.
The Congressional Review Service (CRS) has released an updated overview of the Medicaid Program.
The overview can be obtained at https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43357.pdf.
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced in today’s issue of the Federal Register its Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) as of May 1, 2019.
Lists of HPSAs can be obtained at https://data.hrsa.gov/topics/health-workforce/shortage-areas.
The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee leaders released an amendment today to the Lower Health Care Costs Act of 2019 (S.1895), making several updates to bipartisan legislation focused on reducing health care costs.
The amendment can be obtained at https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/S.1895%20Manager's%20Amendment.pdf.
RehabCare will be hosting three webcasts called “The PDPM Project!” for you to learn about the Patient-Driven Payment Model and how it will impact the health care industry. The first session on Monday, July 1 at 2pm EST (11AM PST) will focus on “PDPM 101 Overview of the Patient-Driven Payment Model.”
To register or get more info, email Annie Roden at RehabCare: annie.roden@rehabcare.com
ASAHP has launched their “Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions” LinkedIn group. This new forum will allow educators, administrators, industry professionals, and students to engage with one another about research, events, and new ideas. All individuals are welcome to join the group, post, and comment as we continue to build our allied health community.
According to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women are approaching a milestone in gender parity since 2019 likely will be the first year in which they are a majority of the college-educated labor force. As of the first quarter of 2019, 29.5 million women in the labor force had at least a bachelor’s degree, effectively matching the number of college-educated men in the workforce (29.3 million).
In Texas v. United States, the plaintiffs argue that the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) should be invalidated due to the elimination of the individual mandate penalties under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. An analysis from the Urban Institute provides details on how individuals with different characteristics would be affected under such a finding.
The analysis can be obtained at https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/100409/qs_txvus_repeal_of_aca_03a_-_near_final_0.pdf.
13 bills were announced by Democrats to improve the Health Profession Opportunity Grant (HPOG) program. Democrats plan to introduce legislation that will reauthorize the HPOG program before its current authorization expires on September 30, 2019. HPOG provides opportunities for individuals to gain experience or education in healthcare fields that expect to see a high demand or face workforce shortages.
Read more here.
