Washington DC Update 5/4/22 |
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The Senate is in “the office” this week--working in the Capitol from their offices in the Dirksen, Hart, and Russell Senate Office Buildings.
The House is “working from home” this week--on a weeklong period (until May 10) of working from their district in their respective states.
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The Health Equity and Accountability Act
On April 26, 2022, Representative Robin Kelly (D-IL-2nd), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust introduced the Health Equity and Accountability Act (HEAA). HEAA is the only comprehensive legislation that “directly addresses the intersection of health inequities with race and ethnicity, as well as immigration status, age, disability, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, language, and socio-economic status.”
The bill lays out a comprehensive and strategic legislative roadmap to eliminate racial and ethnic health inequities led by focus on ten main topics:
- Collecting and reporting data
- Ensuring culturally and linguistically appropriate healthcare
- Improving health workforce diversity
- Improving healthcare access and quality
- Improving health outcomes for women, children, and families
- Improving treatment for mental health conditions and substance use
- Addressing high impact minority diseases
- Improving health information technology
- Ensuring accountability and evaluation
- Addressing social determinants and improving environmental justice
For more information, consider reading the FACT SHEET or proposed bill.
The Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act
“Quality-adjusted life years” (QALYs) are a metric used to determine the cost-effectiveness of medications and treatment in healthcare. The metric is a subjective quality of life standard that anticipates a person’s lifespan. The use of QALYs can lead to denying medications and treatment to those with disabilities throughout their life course, from childhood to adulthood. Currently, only Medicare is prohibited from using QALYs. The bill would expand access to treatment and prevent discrimination against people with disabilities by prohibiting the use of QALYs in all federal programs.
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Proclamation: Mental Health
CMS: End of Two Nursing Facility Waivers
Under the public health emergency, HHS granted waivers of compliance with certain provisions of federal law in order to provide flexibility to health care providers to meet needs during the pandemic. These waivers will expire at the end of the public health emergency, but HHS also has discretion to end them sooner if it determines they are no longer necessary or are resulting in harm to consumers.
In an April 7 policy memo to states, CMS announced that it will end several waivers affecting long-term care facilities, including two of particular relevance to the disability networks related to discharge planning and nurse staffing. Specifically, nursing facilities must:
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By May 7: Provide all legally required data and information to patients and their representatives on post-acute care providers, including standardized patient assessment data and quality measures. This will ensure aging and disability networks have necessary information to assist residents with discharge and transfer. (Waiver of Pre-Admission Screening and Annual Resident Review (PASARR) requirements, which affect nursing facility requirements surrounding community discharge for people with serious mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities remains in place.)
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By June 6: Ensure all nurse aides and feeding assistants complete full legally required staff training. Many of these requirements were suspended via waiver during the pandemic to increase staff capacity. However, CMS has raised resident safety concerns as a result of loosened requirements. Returning to full staff training requirements is important for resident safety, but the nursing home industry has warned it could lead to staff shortages in the short term.
EEOC: Caregiving and Employment Discrimination
Discrimination against a person with caregiving responsibilities may be unlawful under federal employment discrimination laws enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In this technical assistance document, the EEOC applies established policy positions to discuss when discrimination against applicants and employees related to pandemic caregiving responsibilities may violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), Titles I and V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) (or Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehabilitation Act), or other EEOC-enforced laws. For additional explanation, consider reading this Manatt Health article.
In Case You Missed It: 2nd Booster Free for those with Medicaid
People enrolled Medicaid are eligible for a second booster dose without any out-of-pocket costs, including copayments, coinsurance or deductibles. Full vaccination with a booster has been shown to provide maximum protection against serious illness and hospitalization from COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) suggests people fifty and older and those who are immunocompromised receive a second booster dose at least four months after their first booster dose. The CDC has published detailed information on what booster shots to get and when based on the brand and timing of initial vaccine and first booster, as well as age and immunocompromised status.
Visit www.covid.gov for information on where to find local locations for vaccines and boosters
In Case You Missed It: Expand Access to COVID-19 Treatments
The White House issued this Fact Sheet outlining efforts to increase access to COVID-19 Treatments. The expansion not only focuses on increasing the availability of antiviral treatments but also on building knowledge, awareness, and capacity to administer, seek and trust the treatments for both providers and patients.
Funding Opportunity: Increasing Capacity to Serve Individuals with Co-Occurring Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health Disabilities
ACL’s Administration on Disabilities (AoD) is announcing a new funding opportunity to create the National Resource and Technical Assistance Center: Increasing Capacity to Serve Individuals with Co-Occurring Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health Disabilities.
Under the Projects of National Significance (PNS) program one competitive, five-year cooperative agreement will be awarded to establish a national, person-centered, culturally competent training center for building capacity in state and local service systems to support individuals with co-occurring intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) and mental health disabilities living well. The Center will be guided by people with lived experience, including those from underserved communities, and will provide training, peer-to-peer learning, and resources to individuals, family members, and professionals working with people with ID/DD and mental health disabilities, including mental health professionals and direct support professionals. The Center will also support state agencies by providing resources related to policy development, service design, and service coordination across agencies.
ACL's Projects of National Significance focus on the most pressing issues affecting people with developmental disabilities and their families. Through the projects, ACL supports the development of national and state policy and awards grants and contracts that enhance the independence, productivity, inclusion, and integration of people with developmental disabilities.
Applications Due: June 21
Join using this information:
Or call in (audio only)
+1 206-420-5032,,440325688# United States, Seattle
Phone Conference ID: 440 325 688#
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Briefs, Policy Guides, Webinars of Interest |
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Report: Accessing Mental Health Care and SUD Coverage
Well Being Trust, a national foundation dedicated to advancing the mental, social, and spiritual health of the nation, has published “ Health Care for the Relentless” written by a Maine family leader. This guide is intended to help families and individuals navigate the difficult terrain of health insurance in America. It provides information to individuals so that they are more informed about mental health care and substance use disorder insurance coverage. It also provides step-by-step guidance on what to do if your insurance company refuses to cover professionally recommended mental health or addiction care.
Policy Guide: State Strategies Direct Care Workforce
Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI) has released a resource for state policy leaders to help improve jobs for the nation's direct care workers. The new policy guide, State Policy Strategies for Strengthening the Direct Care Workforce, offers 24 strategies that states have used to strengthen and stabilize direct care job quality, improving long-term services and supports access for all.
NAMD Issue Brief: Public Health Emergency Unwinding
Follow this link to a National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) issue brief (a quick one-pager) and then move around the site to other articles about how Medicaid state agencies are and can prepare their workforce for the unwinding. NAMD is also hosting a May 23, 12-1 pm EST webinar titled Unwinding the Continuous Coverage Requirement. More information and registration HERE.
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Thank you for subscribing to the Washington DC Update newsletter. Please feel free to contact the Family Voices Director of Public Policy and Advocacy, Cara Coleman, with any questions. Past issues of the Update appear on the Family Voices website. If you wish to unsubscribe, you can do so via the "Unsubscribe" link below.
Family Voices is a national organization and grassroots network of families and friends of children and youth with special health care needs and disabilities that promotes partnership with families--including those of cultural, linguistic and geographic diversity--in order to improve healthcare services and policies for children.
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