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Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity Grants Program

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The Department of Education has announced it is accepting application for the Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (IREPO) grants program. Created by the CARES Act, IREPO is designed to help intuitions of higher education emerge from the Coronavirus pandemic more resilient and expand educational opportunities for students. Priority for grant awards will be given to colleges and universities with the greatest unmet needs related to COVID-19. $28,000,000 in estimated funds are available for an estimated 19 awards. The deadline of the notice of intent to apply is September 10, 2020, and the application deadline date is October 20, 2020.

The notice is available here and more information may be accessed here.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness Data Map

The American Federation of Teachers and the Student Borrower Protection Center have issued a new, interactive 50 state map which includes data on Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF), and Employer Certification Form (ECF) Rejections.

The interactive map and the joint investigative report by the AFT and SBPC may be accessed here.

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HHS Invests In Laboratories To Expand COVID-19 Testing Capacity

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today the provision of combined investments of $6.5 million in two commercial diagnostic laboratories to expand capacity by performing an additional one million SARS-CoV-2 tests each week by early October.

The announcement can be obtained at https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/08/13/hhs-invests-in-diagnostic-labs-to-expand-covid-19-testing-capacity-in-the-united-states.html.

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Provider Relief Fund

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Qualified health care service and support providers now have access to relief funds for appropriate expenses, lost revenue due to COVID-19, or to help uninsured Americans get testing and treatment for COVID-19. Through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (PPPCHE), the federal government has allocated $175 billion in payments to be distributed through the Provider Relief Fund (PRF). These payments do not need to be repaid to the US government, assuming providers comply with the terms and conditions. All groups will have until Friday, August 28, 2020 to apply.

More information may be accessed here.

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COVID-19 Testing Plans By State And Jurisdiction

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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released COVID-19 testing plans for state, local, and territorial jurisdictions through the rest of calendar year 2020. These plans set specific targets for COVID-19 testing in each jurisdiction.

Testing plans can be obtained at https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/testing-plans/index.html.

Health Care Field Adds Jobs

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.

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President Trump's Executive Action on Pandemic Relief

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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.

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Watch On-Demand: Keeping Students Safe in the Age of COVID-19 Webinar

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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.

Click to watch the webinar recording.

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Congressional Roundtable Examines the Role of Telehealth During COVID-19 and Beyond

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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

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ASHAP Joins Joint Letter on Student Loan Forgiveness for Health Professionals

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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.

Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program Grants

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

Executive Order Signed On Rural Health And Telehealth Access

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/.

Integration Of Care For Medicare-Medicaid Beneficiaries

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.

IPEC Institue 2020 to be Held Virtually

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.

DHS Places Further Limits on DACA Program

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.