A key House panel this week will review a package of bills that includes legislation America’s Essential Hospitals has endorsed to ease the nation’s health care workforce crisis.
At a June 14 hearing, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health will consider the Children’s Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act of 2023 (H.R. 3887), which would reauthorize the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) program. In a letter to subcommittee leadership earlier this year, America’s Essential Hospitals and more than 30 other advocacy groups called for $738 million in CHGME funding for fiscal year (FY) 2024, up from $385 million in FY 2023.
Recent Committee Activity
At a Senate Committee on Finance hearing last week, committee members expressed concerns that vertical and horizontal consolidation within the U.S. health care sector is increasing prices for consumers. Committee members also discussed differential payment rates across settings, the 340B Drug Pricing Program, and an overall lack of health care price transparency.
Also last week, the House Committee on Ways and Means marked up legislation that would permanently allow high-deductible health plans to cover telehealth services before customers hit their deductible. America’s Essential Hospitals has backed similar legislation to make telehealth services more widely available to increase access to care.
Committee Activity This Week
Both the House and Senate will be in session Monday through Thursday of this week, with the latter also convening on Friday.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing June 13, at 10:30 am ET, titled, “Legislative Solutions to Bolster Preparedness and Response for All Hazards and Public Health Security Threats.”
In a June 15 executive session starting at 10 am ET, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will examine legislation to reauthorize the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (S. 133), the Alzheimer’s Accountability and Investment Act (S. 134), and a bill to reauthorize funding for rural emergency medical services.
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