NHMA has been advocating for the focus on Hispanic Health Equity and suggesting policies to Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services –
1) NHMA sent support letter to Congress for the CARES Act. Read the letter,
here
.
2) NHMA President participated in the Health Equity and COVID-19 Webinar and signed onto a key letter requesting racial ethnic healthcare data HHS Secretary Azar coordinated by the AMA and with other key medical groups. Read the letter,
here
.
NHMA advocated for the reauthorization of HRSA of HRSA Title VII health workforce programs and the House bill was included in the CARES Act passed last week –
The bill supporting the HCOP, COE programs to increase recruitment and retention of underrepresented students into Medical School and other health professional schools and supporting the primary care medical education with an emphasis on geriatrics.
Several measures in the CARES Act – the third government stimulus bill that can help individuals, physicians and nonprofits in our community:
The CARES Act expands health-insurance coverage for diagnostic testing and requires coverage for preventative services and vaccines and stops student loan payments from the Department of Education, allows schools to continue to offer student meals, and allows FDA to test drugs for treatment of COVID-19, among other items.
A new loan product within the Small Business Administration for loans of up to $10 million to help cover payroll and overhead costs, with expanded loan forgiveness criteria. Physician practices with not more than 500 employees may qualify. Small businesses and nonprofits also qualify for loans and a small grant program.
$100 billion in direct financial support to physician practices, hospitals, and other health care providers under the Public Heath and Social Services Emergency Fund. This support is for costs of treating COVID-19 patients as well as to ease the financial impact on those who lose revenue due reductions in other services as a result of the pandemic. Exact eligibility criteria and application process is not yet d
efined pending implementation.
Part of this major funding was provided to the community health centers and their programs to test and treat COVID-19.
Suspension of the 2% Medicare sequester in May through December 2020.
Limitations on liability for volunteer health care professionals during COVID-19 emergency response.
A temporary waiver of the face-to-face visit requirement with home dialysis patients.
Authority for the Secretary of HHS to waive telehealth coverage requirements for new patients during a national emergency. Previous legislation provided flexibility only for established patients seen within the past three years.
Secretary of HHS will also allow for enhanced use of telehealth under Medicare for federally qualified health centers.
Individuals will get $1200 with 2018 taxes and salaries below $75,000.
The Department of Education will suspend student loan payments until Sept 30.
Prior to the CARES Act, Congress passed two more stimulus bills related to COVID-19.
ACTION ALERT – Contact your Representative and Senators
NHMA submitted a request to the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate Appropriations Committees to include a report language for Fiscal Year 2021 Labor-Health Human Services-Education Appropriations bill for the following priorities:
- Establish a Hispanic Leadership Fellowship Program that will increase the participation of Hispanic health and medical professionals in the areas of national need.
- Establish a Hispanic Junior Faculty Research Accelerator Program to increase the participation of mid-level career physicians to be trained for posts at the federal, state, and local public health levels.
We need your help in contacting your Member of Congress to urge them to support NHMA’s initiatives. Please
visit here
for more information. If you have any questions, please contact Ben Melano at
bmelano@nhmamd.org
.
NHMA submitted the following in March 2020:
NHMA submitted a comment to CMS regarding their proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters (NBPP) for 2021. NHMA called for the enforcement of the 2020 NBPP rule rather than the proposed 2021 rule. Read the comment,
here
.
NHMA joined other healthcare organizations to send a thank you ad to the House of Representatives for passing HR 2339. View the ad,
here
.
