- Star Grassroots Advocates
- In December, over 70 students and faculty from the George Washington University PA program participated in the second annual GW Hill Day to advocate for H.R. 1685 - the Physician Assistant Higher Education Modernization Act and H.R. 1686 - the Physician Assistant Education Public Health Initiatives Act. Thank you for your leadership!
- Advancing PAEA’s Advocacy Agenda
- On December 20, President Trump signed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act into law, providing funding for the Department of Health and Human Services through the end of fiscal year 2020. This bill provides more than $26 million in new funding to health professions education through the Mental and Substance Use Disorder Workforce Training Demonstration while also providing increases of nearly $2 million and $1 million respectively to Area Health Education Centers and the Health Careers Opportunity Program.
- The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee advanced S.2997 - the Title VII Health Care Workforce Reauthorization Act - in mid-December. This bill would reauthorize currently expired Title VII programs such as Primary Care Training and Enhancement grants and Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students through fiscal year 2025.
- Health Care News in Washington
- In addition to funding increases for key Title VII programs, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act extended mandatory funding for high-priority programs such as the National Health Service Corps through May 2020. Congress is expected to enact a long-term extension later this year.
- In late December, the House Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee announced a legislative hearing for mid-January to consider several bills focused on issues such as immunosuppressive drug coverage for kidney transplant patients, school-based allergies and asthma management, and social determinants of health.
- Opportunities for Action
- PAEA is asking PA education advocates to support the Lower Health Care Costs Act - a bipartisan agreement that would extend the National Health Service Corps and authorize new investments in OB/GYN clinical rotations. If you have not already contacted your representatives in support of this agreement, please do so today.
30