Don’t let noise distract
Nothing projects so loud as
Deafening silence
The Rundown
- Federal budget process is well underway
- Congressional hearings related to healthcare
- Biden administration announces organ transplantation modernization initiative
- The latest from our desks
- Join the Duke Health Advocacy Network!
Federal Updates
Budgets...Budgets Everywhere
While it might seem like members just got back to work following a short recess (and you’d be right!), Congress is quickly approaching its next two-week recess period starting on April 3. As a result, it seems like every congressional committee is trying to fit in a hearing before heading back home.
Following the release of President Biden’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Budget earlier this month, which officially kicked off the appropriations process, several Senate and House committees have started their reviews. The Senate Budget Committee met last week with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young, while the House Budget Committee met with Director Young on Thursday.
Both the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee held hearings with Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra this week to discuss the president’s FY 2024 budget request for HHS. During the hearings, Secretary Becerra emphasized how the proposed budget is designed to meet several ongoing health care challenges, including the need to transform behavioral healthcare, prepare for future public health threats, expand the health care workforce, expand coverage and access to care, and advance science to improve health. A copy of Secretary Becerra’s remarks is available here.
In addition to the start of these congressional hearings, the release of the president’s budget request also gives the green light for congressional and committee offices to start the process for considering funding requests for their states or districts. Over the past two weeks, our office has submitted multiple Duke Health federal funding priorities to NC congressional offices to strengthen and build necessary Member support as the appropriations process progresses.
As part of our advocacy for Duke Health’s funding priorities, our office coordinated Duke Health joining other national, state, and local medical, public health, and research organizations in supporting $35 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), $25 million for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and $1 million for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to conduct public health research into firearm morbidity and mortality prevention. Since last week’s newsletter, our office has been building support for Congressional “Dear Colleague” letters that align with Duke Health priorities. These letters are a way for Members of Congress to express funding support for a federal program, and our team urged support in the NC delegation for Dear Colleague letters that would provide robust funding for NIH, Title VII health professions programs, Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs, and the new Bio-Preparedness Workforce Pilot Program that was authorized in December. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) is co-leading the NIH letter encouraging Senate appropriators to “maintain a strong commitment to funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education bill” in FY 2024. A similar letter in the House has the support of NC Reps. Deborah Ross (D-NC-02), Kathy Manning (D-NC-06), Alma Adams (D-NC-12), and Wiley Nickel (D-NC-13).
Heard on the Hill: (other) congressional committee activity
While more than a fair share of congressional hearings at this time of year are focused on examining various aspects of the administration’s budget requests, healthcare and hospitals remain top of mind for two key House committees.
House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health
This week, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health held a hearing to examine the affordability of healthcare and the impact of inflation on small businesses, consumers, and medical providers. The panel included witnesses from the small business community, including an independent medical provider, and the health policy research community. While at times committee members disagreed starkly on the root causes of rising healthcare costs, especially with respect to the impact and efficacy of the Affordable Care Act, there was agreement that additional congressional efforts to identify and address cost drivers are necessary.
In his opening statement, full House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) noted that “in today’s hearing and in future hearings – including field hearings - [the Committee will] examine the many factors driving the unaffordability of health care and what can be done to expand care to communities who today see hospitals and clinics closing because they cannot afford to keep the lights on.”
Rep. Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC-03) is a member of the Health Subcommittee, and our team will continue to engage with his office to position Duke Health as a resource for future congressional activity.
Announcing: House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health
The House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Subcommittee on Health announced a hearing for next Tuesday, March 28 entitled, “Lowering Unaffordable Costs: Examining Transparency and Competition in Health Care.” Although additional details, including the confirmed panel of witnesses, have not yet been confirmed, we anticipate that there will be at least some discussion of hospital and provider price transparency regulations and compliance, health system mergers, and other, broader drivers of healthcare costs that have become more acute due to inflationary pressures. Our team has connected with staff of the E&C Health Subcommittee to offer Duke Health’s perspective on these issues and will remain actively engaged.
HRSA announces OPTN modernization initiative
Okay, so we’re starting with a lot of acronyms. This week, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced a new modernization initiative intended to strengthen accountability and transparency in the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Among the initiatives’ recommended actions include:
- Creating data dashboards detailing individual transplant center and organ procurement organization data on organ retrieval, waitlist outcomes, and transplants, and demographic data on organ donation and transplant;
- Modernizing the OPTN IT system in line with industry-leading standards, improving OPTN governance, and increasing transparency and accountability in the system to better serve the needs of patients and families;
- Issuing contract solicitations for multiple awards to manage the OPTN to foster competition and ensure OPTN Board of Directors’ independence;
- Including in the President’s FY 2024 Budget proposal a request to more than double investment in organ procurement and transplantation to a total of $67 million; and,
- Requesting that Congress include in its FY 2024 budget a mandate to update the nearly 40-year-old National Organ Transplant Act.
HRSA also announced as part of the initiative that it will solicit multiple contracts to manage the OPTN to “foster competition.” Currently, the nonprofit organization United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is the only group contracted by the government to run the system, which has drawn criticism from some in congressional leadership and in the healthcare community. A formal bidding process for OPTN management is expected to open soon.
From our desk(s): Duke Health GR this week
As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, on Monday Duke Health submitted recommendations to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on policies that could help address the health workforce shortage. Our office coordinated and informed this effort.
This week, our office met with the School of Medicine’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) Office to receive updates on Duke’s GME program and better inform our advocacy efforts moving forward.
We also participated in the Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) Government Relations Representatives (GRR) meeting to discuss legislation affecting teaching hospitals and medical schools and to connect with congressional staff on key policy issues.
A member of our team attended the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce’s 2023 Annual Meeting on Wednesday as a representative of the Duke Health Government Relations office.
Members of our team also participated in national policy coalition and strategy calls related to nursing advocacy, digital health and data privacy, federal surprise billing rules implementation, the 340B Program, and medical research.
Join the Duke Health Advocacy Network!
From our desk(s): Duke Health GR this week
As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, on Monday Duke Health submitted recommendations to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on policies that could help address the health workforce shortage. Our office coordinated and informed this effort.
This week, our office met with the School of Medicine’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) Office to receive updates on Duke’s GME program and better inform our advocacy efforts moving forward.
We also participated in the Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) Government Relations Representatives (GRR) meeting to discuss legislation affecting teaching hospitals and medical schools and to connect with congressional staff on key policy issues.
A member of our team attended the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce’s 2023 Annual Meeting on Wednesday as a representative of the Duke Health Government Relations office.
Members of our team also participated in national policy coalition and strategy calls related to nursing advocacy, digital health and data privacy, federal surprise billing rules implementation, the 340B Program, and medical research.
Join the Duke Health Advocacy Network!
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