Congress has returned from Thanksgiving recess and is focused on passing the remaining FY 2019 spending bills before December 7th to avoid a partial government shutdown (note HHS programs were funded before the midterm elections and will not be affected by this potential shutdown). In addition to the December 7th deadline, there are only 8 legislative days left to complete all other work before the planned holiday recess. Continue below to see what is currently on our “Washington radar” for the remainder of that time.
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The Latest from the Administration & Congress
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Yesterday, leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees announced that they have reached an agreement in principle on the 2018 Farm Bill. They cautioned that they are still working to finalize language and are awaiting cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office but all seemed optimistic that the conference committee is close to finalizing its report. Once the conference report is finalized, the measure must pass in both chambers before the end of the year or start from scratch in the new Congress.
It is speculated that the final 2018 Farm Bill will be a compromise that looks much more similar to the bipartisan Senate Farm Bill than the Republican-backed House Farm Bill with its significantly expanded work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Click here
to view a short press release. You can also track the latest developments regarding the 2018 Farm Bill by following #FarmBill on
Twitter
.
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Last week, the Senate Committee on Finance released a discussion draft of a bill that would extend and make modest reforms to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Current authorization for TANF is set to expire on December 8th.
This week, Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) officially introduced a revised version of the bill, titled the “Promoting Employment and Economic Mobility Act.” Highlights of the bill include...
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Time is of the essence for lawmakers as they continue to work during the lame-duck session to avert a partial government shutdown. As previously
reported
, the President signed the last spending package (
H.R. 6157
), which authorized funding for the Defense and Labor-Health and Human Services-Education departments, before the end of the 2018 fiscal year. The bill included a continuing resolution (CR) which is providing short-term funding for agencies and some mandatory programs included in unfunded spending bills until December 7th. Lawmakers must complete work on the seven remaining spending bills before the CR expires or pass another CR to avoid the partial shutdown. However, conflict over spending for a border wall continues to delay negotiations.
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On Monday night, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), unveiled an almost
300-page tax bill
, which Republicans hope to pass by the end of this Congress. The bill, among other things, would extend several expired tax breaks and fix technical corrections to last year’s tax law (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act).
As
previously reported
, the House of Representatives passed three tax bills, referred to as Tax Reform 2.0, before recessing for midterm elections. The Senate, however, did not decide to take up any of the bills due to the lack of bipartisan support. With the federal deficit continuing to grow after the tax reform law, the Congressional Budget Office determined that the reforms within this bill would add $54.7 billion to deficits over the next decade.
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Social Determinants of Health
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Two weeks ago, the Secretary of Health and Human Services gave a
speech
in Washington, DC at the Hatch Foundation on the social determinants of health (SDOH) and how the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is and will be taking steps to incorporate SDOH into its programming. Secretary Azar specifically noted that medical spending is very high and the root cause of that spending is SDOH. He sees the reason for this as threefold...
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While HHS Secretary Azar mentioned the Department’s desire to incorporate the social determinants of health (SDOH) framework into its work, the Department (through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) is currently working on a proposed rule which would allow states to opt out of paying for non-emergent medical transportation for Medicaid beneficiaries. This rule would run contrary to what Azar is advocating for because transportation—particularly transportation to medical appointments—is a vital SDOH.
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Deadline for Public Comment on Proposed Rule on Public Charge Approaches
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In early October, the Department of Homeland Security released a proposed rule that would expand the list of programs and factors that may be considered by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service (USCIS) when determining whether some immigrants seeking entry to the Unites States or an adjustment of status is likely to become a “public charge.”
APHSA is currently finalizing its letter opposing the proposed rule. The deadline for submitting public comments on the NPRM is
December 10
. Instructions for submitting comments can be found
here
.
Read APHSA’s original report on the notice of proposed rulemaking
here
. View the full proposed rule
here
.
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Open Call for Culture of Health Articles
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With continuing support from the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
,
Health Affairs
is planning four clusters of articles in 2019 and 2020 on topics
surrounding the
Culture of Health
. They are particularly interested in work that addresses the topics below and ties into one or more of the key action areas that form the Culture of Health framework, all of which support the overarching goal of improving population health, well-being, and equity:
Submissions are due
December 10, 2018
and
April 1, 2019
.
Click here
for more information.
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Prenatal-to-Age-Three State Grant Competition
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The Pritzker Children’s Initiative (PCI) has set a goal of expanding high-quality services nationally to at least one million more low-income families with children prenatal to age three by 2023. To achieve this goal, PCI is awarding five to ten Planning Grants ($100,000/grant) and three to five Action Grants (ranging from $1-3 million) to states.
In the first three years of a child’s life, the brain is developing faster than at any later period in life and this is why PCI is seeking proposals from across the country that can help put children on a path for success. Letters of Intent are due
January 15, 2019
. Proposals are due on
February 15, 2019
.
Click here
for more information.
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2019 State Healthcare IT Connect 10th Anniversary Summit
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The
2019 State Healthcare IT Connect Summit
will be held March 18-20, 2019 in Baltimore, MD. This event has grown and evolved into an important national venue for public and private sector thought leaders to share ideas and benchmark implementation strategies of Health IT Systems. States are coordinating major initiatives including data governance and interoperability, Medicaid modernization, payment reform, population health, and program integrity as well as data privacy, security, and compliance issues at many levels.
Early bird registration rates are available until
December 14, 2018
. Registration is
free for government employees.
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