Legislation and Legislative Advocacy

The American Hospital Association (AHA) shares resources on health care legislation being considered by the U.S. House and Senate and legislative advocacy opportunities for hospitals and health systems.

As the House Energy and Commerce Committee prepares to craft comprehensive legislation to address the nation’s opioid epidemic, AHA today urged the committee to report legislation to align 42 CFR Part 2 with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
The leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee last night released a discussion draft of bipartisan legislation to address the opioid crisis, and announced an April 11 hearing on the bill with the goal of marking up legislation this spring.
The AHA today expressed support for the Children’s Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act of 2018 (S. 2597/H.R. 5385), which would reauthorize the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education program for an additional five years and fund the program annually at $330 million.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert yesterday signed legislation amending the state Medicaid program to expand eligibility to certain low-income individuals.
President Trump today signed into law an omnibus appropriations bill funding federal discretionary programs through September.
The $1.3 trillion bill, released last night after an agreement by congressional leaders and the White House, includes $88.1 billion for Department of Health and Human Services programs, a $10.1 billion increase from fiscal year 2017.
Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Ron Kind (D-WI), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Ami Bera (D-CA) yesterday launched the Health Care Innovation Caucus, which will work to advance a legislative agenda that encourages innovative policy ideas to improve quality of care and lower costs for consumers.