Skip to main content

Federal Health Policy Updates for the Week of July 29, 2024

Duke Government Relations Logo

First, last, or middle 
Time can’t be bought, only spent 
So, invest it well 

Publication Notice: Congress will recess for the rest of August, and our newsletter will also take a hiatus. We expect to resume our regular publication schedule the week of September 9th. 

The Rundown

  • Thank you, Doug Heron 
  • August recess has arrived 
  • What’s up, NC delegation? 
  • The latest from our desks  
  • Join the Duke Health Advocacy Network!


Federal Updates

Our Doug, our thanks
Many of you likely know Doug Heron as the head of Duke State Relations, Duke University’s and Duke Health’s “face” to policymakers in Raleigh, and an all-around guru of North Carolina politics. We know that side of him, too, but what you may not see as much behind the scenes is Doug as an exceptional partner, collaborator, and friend to our federal relations team, along with his excellent state relations teammate, Katie Lipe. We serve Duke Health in tandem because the issues we track and advocate for are intertwined with both federal and state components. Even more so, our team knows that we’re only as strong in our separate endeavors as we are working together.  

In fact, it wouldn’t surprise us if you considered our teams as one complementary unit. Over the past few years, we’ve held joint lunch-and-learns for over 20 different departments and units, system-wide election debriefs, and multiple advocacy trainings, and led countless issue-specific conversations with faculty, staff, and students. Usually, if you’ve seen one of us – the other was right there, too. 

We’ll miss working with him daily, but he’s not going far to serve in a senior policy role at an organization whose success matters to all our work in the health system. The North Carolina Healthcare Association will benefit mightily from Doug’s experience, expertise, strategic mind, and good humor. So will many other NC hospitals. They recognized a need and set out to find one of the best in the state to fill it – which is exactly what we would have done, too. 

Thank you, Doug, for all you’ve given Duke. You’ve made us better at what we do. We’ll see you soon. 

That’s it – until September
With most of Washington’s political chatter focused on the upcoming elections and the House of Representatives already gone, the Senate had the halls of Congress all to itself for some quiet work before its recess began yesterday evening. 

On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved four of its FY 2025 appropriations bills, including the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill. The bill would fund the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at $50.2 billion, an increase of $2.05 billion above the FY 2024 level. Some of that amount would fund mental health, Alzheimer's, and cancer research. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would also receive a funding increase of $173 million above FY 2024 levels. The bill also would provide funding for pandemic preparedness, $1.4 billion for Health Professions Workforce Development, and a $21.3 million increase in rural health programs to boost recruitment of health care providers to practice in rural areas and support rural hospitals, among other investments. While this bill establishes the Senate’s position in future negotiations with the House, the focus when they return in September will be on a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) to extend the deadline for government funding past Election Day. 

The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee held an executive session on Wednesday to consider three bipartisan bills: Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2024 (S. 4776); Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education, and Support Act of 2024 (S. 4762); and a bill to reauthorize traumatic brain injury programs (S. 4755). Our team shared information about the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, which has been an NIH Autism Center of Excellence since 2017, with Senate HELP Committee member Ted Budd (R-NC) ahead of the session. All three bills were approved by the Committee in a 20-1 vote and will now likely be considered in a year-end package. 

The Senate will adjourn this week, and Congress won’t reconvene until the second week of September. The recess will be a time to take a breath, prepare for the fall, and continue to engage. We look forward to sharing our recess activities with congressional staff and leaders when we see you again next month. 

What’s Up NC Delegation 
Last week, the Senate passed a resolution sponsored by Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Alex Padilla (D-CA), co-founders of the bipartisan Senate Mental Health Caucus, highlighting the mental healthcare crisis American children face and the urgent need to increase investment in mental health care for children and adolescents. Full text of the resolution is available here

Also last week, Senator Tillis joined Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) in introducing the bipartisan Preserving Life-saving Access to Specialty Medicines in America (PLASMA) Act, legislation to ensure individuals with rare diseases and immunodeficiencies have access to necessary plasma-based medicines. According to the press release, “the PLASMA Act would include plasma-derived medicines in a phase-in process for the Part D redesign the Inflation Reduction Act already has in place for other drugs Congress recognized as unique. Beginning in 2031, manufacturers would pay the full rebate amount following annual rebate increases, protecting vulnerable beneficiaries’ supply of plasma-derived medicines and avoiding skyrocketing costs for patients.” The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration. 

From our desk(s): Duke Health GR this week 
This week our team joined a meeting with program leadership from ARPA-H visiting Duke Health to learn more about our clinical, operational, and research utilization of artificial intelligence in healthcare. 

Members of our team also joined coalition and stakeholder strategic policy planning calls and meetings on issues of importance to Duke Health missions, including telehealth, artificial intelligence in healthcare, surprise medical billing and price transparency, and access to care. 

Join the Duke Health Advocacy Network!
Looking for more opportunities to connect with fellow advocates and professionals interested in public policy across the health system? Join the Duke Health Advocacy Teams Channel! We’re growing leaps and bounds and hope you’ll consider joining us!

Managed and moderated by Duke Health Government Relations and Duke State Relations, the purpose of the platform is for you to connect with your colleagues throughout the health system who are engaged and/or interested in public policy advocacy. We hope the channel will be used as a space for sharing ideas, collaboration, and engaging with the government relations teams on the issues most important to your work.

We encourage you to explore the channel, as we will post relevant news items, policy updates, questions, advocacy resources, and opportunities for engagement. As importantly, this is your space to do the same and to help grow the community.

Click to Join

(Note: This is only open to Duke Health employees. By joining this teams channel, you acknowledge that the platform and your participation are intended for information sharing and connections/relationship building and is not an inducement by Duke Health Government Relations and Duke State Relations, or the channel’s participants, to act as an unauthorized advocacy and/or lobbying representative of Duke Health or Duke University).