Newswire Archives
ASAHP joined many other organizations in a joint letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar, urging renewal of the current public health emergency declaration for at least an additional 90 days before it expires on July 25. Such a declaration is needed to adequately deploy necessary resources and authorities.
The letter may be accessed here.
As part of the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions (FASHP), ASAHP joined numerous other associations in sending a letter to the Department of Homeland Security voicing opposition to guidance released by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that prohibits international students from returning to or remaining in the US if the institutions they attend adopt online-only instruction models amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The ICE guidance limits the flexibility needed for our institutions, and would be detrimental to the students, health professions education, research, and public health efforts. The associations recommend that ICE should allow students with valid visas the opportunity to continue receiving their education in the manner determined by their school to be the safest and most effective for them and their classmates.
The letter may be accessed here.
Today the U.S. House of Representative’s Appropriations Committee holds a full committee markup of its FY 2021 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill. The bill advanced in Subcommittee along party lines last week. The bill includes $512.5 million ($38 million above the FY 2020 enacted level) for Title VII Health Professions programs and nearly $270 million for Title VIII nursing programs. $51.5 million is included for Scholarship for Disadvantaged Students, $42.7 million for geriatric programs, $38.9 million for mental and behavioral health, $127 million for behavioral health workforce education and training, and $15 million is included for the Health Careers Opportunity Program.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlights gaps in Medicare mental health coverage as well as opportunities for improvement. A report from the Commonwealth Fund discusses how policies to expand coverage of telemental health should be studied rigorously and potentially made permanent as a strategy to increase access to mental health services by beneficiaries.
The report can be obtained at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/jul/medicare-mental-health-coverage-covid-19-gaps-opportunities?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Medicare.
On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. House of Representative’s Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies advanced their FY 2021 spending bill on a 9-6 party line vote. The Democratic bill includes $94.6 billion for HHS, an increase of $1.5 billion above the FY 2020 enacted level. The bill includes $7.2 billion for HRSA, an increase of $157 million above the FY 2020 enacted level. HRSA’s Bureau of Health Professions programs would receive $1.2 billion, an increase of $48 million above the FY 2020 enacted level. NIH would receive $47 billion. The bill also includes $73.5 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education, an increase of $716 million above the FY 2020 enacted level. The bill includes $2.6 billion for higher education programs and $24.6 billion for Federal student aid programs, including an increase to the maximum Pell Grant. A full committee markup is scheduled for Monday afternoon and amendments will be considered then.
The bill may be accessed here.
The Appropriations Committee Press Release and Bill Summary may be accessed here.
The link to Monday afternoon’s markup may be accessed here.
The American Council of Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT)’s National Consortium of Clinical Educators (NCCE) has released additional guidance for resuming physical therapy clinical education. The guidance includes
strategies for maximizing capacity by reassessing the curriculum to ensure accreditation standards are met in an efficient manner,
using “innovative” scheduling and prioritization for clinical education placements, and
sharing resources across academic programs and clinical sites.
Read more here.
Inside Higher Education explores how clinical education has had to adapt from clinical site closures to slowly allowing students to return, as a result of the pandemic. Julie O’Sullivan Maillet, chair of ASAHP’s Clinical Education Task Force (CETF), along with two CETF members Dr. Mari Knettle (Cleveland Clinic) and Dr. Peter Hu (University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center) provided insight on how their respective educational institutions, healthcare institutions, and accrediting bodies have responded and challenges they have faced.
ASAHP’s CETF has held several webinars on clinical education during the pandemic. All webinar recordings are available here, and we invite members to engage in our “Clinical Education Discussion Forum” online community. To join, please contact Kristen Truong at kristen@asahp.org.
Read the full article here.
A new Department of Homeland Security rule prohibits international students from returning to or remaining in the United States if their colleges adopt an online-only instruction model for the fall semester.
More information can be obtained at https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/bcm2007-01.pdf.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the health care field added 358,000 jobs in June, increasing 2.3% to a seasonally adjusted 15.6 million. Office-based providers, such as physicians and dentists, continued to account for much of the increase while nursing and residential care facilities continued to lose jobs.
The report can be obtained at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm.
Today, ASAHP joined over 250 organizations in a letter sent to Congressional leadership in support of increased funding for public health infrastructure. The groups recommend $4.5 billion in additional annual funding for CDC, state, local, tribal and territorial core public health infrastructure to pay for such essential activities
The letter may be accessed here.
ASAHP joined with a coalition of organizations led by the National Association of County and City Health Officials in sending letters last week to Congressional leadership in the U.S. House and Senate. The House letter outlines the undersigned organizations’ strong support of the Public Health Loan Repayment Program included in the HEROES Act and urges Congress to create and fund this program as part of the next COVID-19 package. The Senate letter outlines the organizations’ strong support of the Strengthening the Public Health Workforce Act, and urges Congress to include that bill as part of the next COVID-19 package and provide funding to implement it.
The House letter may be accessed here and the Senate letter may be accessed here.
A new AHA report released today finds that the immense financial strain facing hospitals and health systems due to COVID-19 will continue, with total losses expected to be at least $323 billion in 2020 and patient volume expected to remain well below baseline levels.
The report can be obtained at https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2020/06/aha-covid19-financial-impact-report.pdf.
Congress responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with various kinds of legislation providing relief to individuals and families; state and local governments; businesses; health care providers; and other entities. A report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has information on selected sources for tracking relief funding provided through these bills.
The report can be obtained at https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/IN11407.pdf.
The coronavirus dramatically changed outpatient care in the United States, with visits to physician offices declining by nearly 60% in March. An updated report from the Commonwealth Fund indicates that although outpatient visits across the nation rebounded in June, visits remain as much as 20% below pre-pandemic levels in some regions of the U.S.
The report can be obtained at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/2020/jun/impact-covid-19-pandemic-outpatient-visits-practices-adapting-new-normal?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Delivery%20System%20Reform.
A paper in the journal Health Affairs published in the June 2020 issue estimates that direct medical costs incurred during the course of the infection range from $163.4 billion if 20% of the population gets infected to $654.0 billion if 80% of the population becomes infected.
The paper can be obtained at https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/pdf/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00426.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee today held a hearing on the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Testimony was heard from Anthony S. Fauci, Director, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Brett P. Giroir, Assistant Secretary for Health; Stephen M. Hahn, Commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration; and Robert R. Redfield, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Their testimonies can be obtained at https://energycommerce.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/full-committee-hearing-on-oversight-of-the-trump-administrations.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on “Telehealth: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic” to examine changes made to insurance payments and effectiveness of waivers granted for telehealth due to COVID-19. An expert panel provided testimony on how telehealth has been crucial for safe medical care and the necessity of waivers to become permanent. Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) asked the witnesses how Congress can help to prepare the current and future workforce on utilizing telehealth and what resources, such as funding, education, and Internet access, are needed to achieve this. Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) expressed hesitation in mandating reciprocity agreements between states for healthcare provider licenses but would rather encourage states to participate in these agreements.
Full memo available here.
Today, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of Univ. of California, rejected the Trump Administration’s attempt to end the DACA program. ASAHP, along with 33 other national health professions organizations, submitted an Amicus Brief to the Court in support of preserving DACA.
The opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, declared that the Court was not deciding whether DACA was a sound policy, as it was within the rights of the Administration to terminate the DACA program, which was created by Executive Order during the Obama Administration. Instead, the Court only looked at “whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action”.
It found the process utilized by the Administration had been done in an “arbitrary and capricious” way, and had not made its decision “based on a consideration of the relevant factors and whether there has been a clear error of judgment, in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act”.
As a result of this decision, DACA will continue to remain intact. However, the Administration has the option of going back through the process of eliminating DACA once again, but needs to offer a sound rationale when doing so – which it had not done this time.
A terrific analysis of this decision can be found by noted Supreme Court scholar Amy Howe of Scotusblog here.
The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee today conducted a hearing on telehealth lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Testimony by witnesses can be obtained at https://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/telehealth-lessons-from-the-covid-19-pandemic.
A new report from the Commonwealth Fund discusses whether existing public and private insurance coverage will suffice to sustain a national immunization strategy.
The report can be obtained at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2020/why-we-cant-rely-health-insurance-alone-guarantee-universal-immunization-against-covid-19.
