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The Rundown
- Congress returns
- What’s up, NC delegation?
- From our desks
- Post-Election Conversation – November 18 at Noon
- Join the Duke Health Advocacy Network!
Federal Updates
Back to Business for Congress
With the dust, or in this case the votes, settled, we know a little more about the outlook for Congress next year. Control of the Senate will flip with Senate Republicans holding 53 seats and Democrats holding 47 seats, not enough to break a 60-vote filibuster but enough to advance President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees. The fate of the House was finally called on Wednesday after Republicans secured the 218 seats needed to maintain control, with Democrats holding 208 seats. At the time of writing this newsletter, nine seats are still undecided.
Members of Congress returned this week and got down to the business of organizing leadership in both parties for the new Congress. House Republicans held their leadership elections and voted to elect Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) as their nominee for Speaker again next Congress. The vote was unanimous, but the official vote will not take place until the start of the 119th Congress in January. In the Senate, a three-way race was held to fill the position of Majority Leader to replace Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who is stepping down after 17 years in the role. Senator John Thune (R-SD) won the election, which was conducted by secret ballot. Senator Thune currently serves as minority whip, has been a supporter of telehealth and rural health, and is a member of the bipartisan working group on 340B. While no leadership changes are expected for House and Senate Democrats, House Democrats will hold their leadership elections on November 19.
What’s Up, NC Delegation?
Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC-02) introduced the Insurance Fraud Accountability Act, which would establish criminal penalties and enhance consumer protections against rogue health insurance brokers who are changing Americans’ Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans and disenrolling them from Medicaid without their knowledge or consent. An identical bill was introduced in the Senate in June. A press release about the legislation is available here.
Last month, Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC-03) introduced a bipartisan resolution alongside Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) to designate October 23rd, 2024, as AADC Deficiency Awareness Day. Aromatic L-Amino Acid Decarboxylase (AADC) Deficiency is a genetic neurologic rare disease that severely debilitates a patient's development, motor skills, growth, and cognitive and language skills and limits a patient's life. AADC Deficiency affects approximately 1 in 100,000 people in the United States. A press release about the resolution is available here.
From our desks
Following last week’s elections, our team presented to multiple groups across Duke Health about how the state and federal results will shape the institution’s health advocacy in Raleigh and Washinton, DC. See below for more details about how to join us on Monday, November 18 for another virtual informational update!
Our team coordinated a meeting with the office of Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) for a Duke Health physician and researcher to discuss her work on the practical implications of current price transparency regulations and out-of-pocket cost estimates and tools for patients and providers.
We continue to support advocacy efforts urging Congress to avoid a potential “telehealth” cliff at the end of the year and extend flexibilities for Medicare reimbursed telehealth and the Acute Care Hospital at Home program beyond the current December 31, 2024 expiration date.
Our office also attended Learn Serve Lead 2024: the AAMC Annual Meeting and joined several sessions to hear about issues impacting academic medicine. Our office also monitored the reconvening of the NIH Scientific Management Review Board.
Join us on November 18th for a Post-Election Conversation!
Join Duke Health Government Relations and Duke State Relations on Monday, November 18 at 12:00pm ET for a virtual information session where we will discuss outcomes of the election, state and federal legislative issues that impact Duke Health, how to engage in advocacy, and more. All members of the Duke Health community are invited to attend.
Register for the event here.
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.
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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).