Expressed gratitude
It’s no small thing to offer
When it’s all you have
The Rundown
- The House is out, the Senate is in, and it won't stay "quiet" for long
- NC in DC - New series of events highlighting Duke's impact for NC and its residents
- The latest from our desks
- Join the Duke Health Advocacy Network!
Federal Updates
Beware the idleness of March (at least this week)
One chamber (House) was out of regular session this week while the other (Senate) attempted to move forward with a number of priorities while down a few key members from both parties. After a mostly break-neck pace for much of late January through… well, last week… these past few days have seen the ever-so-slightest ease back on the throttle. Just don’t expect it to last. The metaphorical Brutus is ever-present backstage, awaiting the opportunity to pop in from either stage-left or stage-right.
Some additional information related to President Biden’s FY 2024 budget request to Congress has been released this week, notably including more detail on a proposed massive increase in the nation’s defense budget, which includes biomedical research supported by the Defense Health Agency, as well proposed growth for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to $2.5 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.
The Department of Health and Human Services has announced that the ARPA-H central hub will be located in the Washington, D.C. area while adhering to an organizing mandate that the agency’s physical presence not be located on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus. Still yet to be announced is the location of the two “spokes” of the central ARPA-H hub, which has sparked a healthy competition among various regions across the country with higher concentrations of research and academic infrastructure – including the Research Triangle right here in NC.
Separately, the administration and Congress have been asking for public feedback on a myriad of guidance, proposed rules, developing legislation, and which issues and policies should be further prioritized as part of the FY 2024 appropriations process. We’ll cover a few more specifics below, but our team has been especially hard at work this week submitting Duke Health federal funding priorities to offices of the NC congressional delegation in an effort to strengthen and build necessary Member support as the process moves forward.
NC in DC
On Wednesday, our office, in collaboration with the Duke in DC and Duke State Relations Offices, hosted the first NC in DC event. Designed as a new, intimate salon series for policymakers held at the Duke in DC offices, the NC in DC series highlights the powerful impact Duke provides for the state and its residents. This week’s event, “NC in DC: Duke’s Education & Workforce Training Across North Carolina,” focused on how faculty and staff across Duke are directing programs that train individuals to become leading practitioners in their respective fields and bring valuable resources to local communities throughout North Carolina. Duke University School of Nursing Dean Vincent Guilamo-Ramos served as one the panelists, highlighting the importance of nurse-led models of care in addressing healthcare disparities across North Carolina.
From our desk(s): Duke Health GR this week
This week, our team coordinated meetings for Duke Health experts to meet with staff of Senate Finance Committee member Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee member Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) to discuss Medicare Advantage’s (MA) impact on patient care and access, including increased lengths of stay as a result of MA policies. These meetings are part of an initial series with NC congressional delegation members on key committees that are actively engaged in or planning policy proposals regarding MA practices nationwide.
We coordinated a meeting with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s (CMMI) Chief Population Health Officer for Duke School of Nursing Dean Vincent Guilamo-Ramos to discuss how the School is leading research and clinical practice in nurse-led models and their shared interest in addressing social determinants of health.
Our team, in coordination with Duke Health leadership and experts, submitted a health system response to a request for information issued by Reps. Richard Hudson (R-NC-09) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) to inform congressional reauthorization of the Pandemic All-Hazards and Preparedness Act (PAHPA). We are now evaluating a similar request for information from the Senate HELP Committee and will engage in follow up with colleagues as appropriate.
Also, in coordination with Duke Health leadership and experts, we prepared a health system response to a Senate HELP Committee request for information on how to support and strengthen the healthcare workforce. Among our recommendations included support for nursing education and training, increasing the number of Graduate Medical Education (GME) slots, health workforce wellbeing, support for health professions programs at the Health Resources and Services Administration, and addressing workplace violence and safety.
Our team followed a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing examining cybersecurity risks to the healthcare sector. The hearing follows recently updated healthcare cybersecurity guidance from HHS and precedes broader Senate cybersecurity legislation expected to be introduced later this spring.
We provided a government relations and advocacy update to the Duke University Hospital Department Heads, representatives of the Duke Autism Center’s Neurodiversity Initiative Working Group, and presented along with our Duke State Relations colleagues at the recent System Operations meeting.
Our team met with majority staff from the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health to discuss reauthorization of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, which is coordinated by the Duke-UCLA National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, as part of broader SUPPORT Act reauthorization efforts expected to begin over the summer.
Members of our team also participated in national policy coalition and strategy calls related to the 340B program, digital health and data privacy, telehealth, federal surprise billing rules implementation, federal support of trauma centers, pediatric mental health, and medical research.
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!
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.
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(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).