Key health care panels in the House and Senate last week considered—and, in some cases, advanced—numerous bills of interest to essential hospitals, including measures to expand telehealth, address workforce challenges, and support graduate medical education.
On May 16, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health marked up 23 broad-ranging health care–related bills, including legislation concerning telehealth, the workforce, and Medicare and Medicaid payment fraud prevention. Of note, the panel advanced legislation to the full committee that would extend COVID-19 pandemic telehealth waivers for two additional years beyond the end of 2024.
Also on May 16, the Senate Committee on Finance held a hearing on rural health care access and quality. Committee members expressed interest in leveraging telehealth in to serve rural areas; address physician shortages in rural areas, including through graduate medical education and residency programs; stop hospital closures; and improve maternal care. Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) expressed support for extending some COVID-19–era telehealth flexibilities set to expire at the end of 2024.
Committee Activity This Week
The Senate convened for Session on Monday. Both chambers will be in session Tuesday through Friday this week, ahead of Monday’s Memorial Day federal holiday.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security will meet May 21, at 2:30 pm ET, for a hearing, “Feeding a Healthier America: Current Efforts and Potential Opportunities for Food is Medicine.” The full committee will hold an executive session May 23, at 10 am ET, to consider several pieces of health care legislation, including S. 3679, the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Reauthorization Act, which America’s Essential Hospitals has endorsed.
The Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing May 22, at 10:30 am ET, titled, “Check Up: Examining FDA Regulation of Drugs, Biologics, and Devices.” The House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing May 23, at 9 am ET, titled, “The Collapse of Private Practice: Examining the Challenges Facing Independent Medicine.”
The Senate Committee on Finance will meet May 23, at 10 am ET, for the hearing, “Front Lines of the Fentanyl Crisis: Supporting Communities and Combating Addiction through Prevention and Treatment.” Also May 23, at 10 am ET, the House Committee on the Budget will hold a hearing, “Breaking Up Health Care Monopolies: Examining the Budgetary Effects of Health Care Consolidation.”
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