The House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing on the National Trauma System. The hearing will include witnesses from the Rees-Jones Trauma Center at Parkland Health & Hospital System, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the University of Maryland’s department of emergency medicine, the National Association of EMS Physicians, and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
Last week, the full Energy and Commerce committee unanimously passed H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, in a bipartisan vote. The bill is now cleared to go to the House floor.
Meanwhile, opioid legislation has cleared both chambers and is prepped to move to conference committee, meaning there is potential for the bill to go to the president’s desk this year. With little time remaining on the 2016 legislative calendar, many lawmakers hope to use a final opioid package as a vehicle to pass mental health legislation and fund a response to the Zika outbreak.