By Anastasia - Admin on July 28, 2023
Category: Health Policy & Advocacy

ARN Health Policy Digest - July 2023

We are pleased to present the July issue of the ARN Health Policy Digest. This member benefit provides updates on health policy and legislative and regulatory developments that may be of interest to rehabilitation nurses. 

HELP Chairman Sanders Introduces Legislation to Address Nursing Workforce

On July 19, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released the text of his legislation to address workforce shortages, the Primary Care and Health Workforce Expansion Act. The bill will invest $20 billion each year over a five-year period to expand community health centers and support recruitment, training, and retention of primary care doctors, mental health providers, nurses, dentists, and home health care workers. Among the myriad provisions included in this bill, here's a few takeaways:

The HELP Committee will mark up the legislation soon and we will report back with more information. In the meantime, the bill text and summary are available for review.

Updates on FY 2024 Appropriations

On July 13, the House Appropriations Committee released its fiscal year (FY) 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies spending bill in advance of the subcommittee markup. As expected, the legislation includes significant cuts to health programs including cutting funding for the National Institutes of Health and the Health Resources and Services Administration. More details about cuts to ARN's priority health programs will be available when the accompanying report is released, which we expect will happen prior to a yet to be scheduled full committee markup.

We had been anticipating these deep cuts to health programs in the House, and these numbers represent the low water mark for these programs. The Senate is expected to markup their Labor-HHS bill on July 27 and are expected to markup to the budget cap level set in the debt ceiling agreement and to offset some of those cuts by providing emergency funding. Once the Senate bill and report are available, we will have a better understanding of the state of funding for ARN's priorities. In the meantime, we encourage ARN members to take action and urge your members of Congress to support robust funding for the nursing workforce and nursing and rehabilitation research.

Stalemate over NIH Director appointment

Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), is delaying the confirmation hearing for Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, President Biden's nominee for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), until the Biden administration promises more drug pricing reform. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is also withholding support for Bertagnolli unless she signs a pledge not to join pharmaceutical company boards after her tenure. Public health advocates are concerned that the standoff between Sanders and the White House may prevent an uncontroversial candidate from leading the NIH, which has been without a permanent director since December 2021. The delay is causing frustration among scientists and advocates who believe the NIH needs a confirmed director to address ongoing issues and controversies.

Notices and Funding Opportunities