Policy Corner: September 13, 2019

Senate Committees Stall Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill

Congress returned after the August recess this week. It was expected that the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education would markup its FY 2020 appropriations bill, however, the markups for both the subcommittee and full appropriations committee have been postponed indefinitely. The subcommittee markup was scheduled for Tuesday, and the full committee markup for yesterday. The markups have been postponed for the time being due to a dispute over controversial amendments pertaining to an administration’s proposed new Title X rule (family planning and related preventative health services) and to budget allocations for the Labor-HHS-Education bill.

The new fiscal year starts Oct. 1, giving Congress just a couple of weeks to pass the appropriations bills or present an alternative to keep government funded. The House of Representatives has passed 10 of its 12 annual funding bills, but the Senate has yet to pass any.

BIAA Supports Bill to Improve Seniors’ Timely Access to Care

As a member of the Steering Committee, the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) signed on to the Coalition to Preserve Rehabilitation letter in support of the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act, H.R. 3107. The bill was introduced by Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), Roger Marshal, M.D. (R-Kan.), and Ami Bera, M.D. (D-Calif.). This bipartisan legislation would help protect patients, including those in need of rehabilitative care, from unnecessary delays in care by introducing reforms to the use of prior authorization in the Medicare Advantage program. The bill would streamline and standardize prior authorization in many situations and provide much-needed transparency for rehabilitation patients in the program.

Congressional Neuroscience Caucus Holds Briefing on Effects of Sleep Relating to the Brain

The Congressional Neuroscience Caucus, along with the American Brain Coalition, Society for Neuroscience, and the American Academy of Neurology, will hold a briefing Sept. 18 on “The Effects of Sleep, and Lack Thereof, on the Brain,” at the Capitol Visitors Center, North, CVC 268 at noon. The briefing will highlight the cutting-edge neuroscience research and projects that are being made possible by the Department of Defense and will feature sleep research being done at Washington State University and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

ACL Funds Additional TBI State Partner Grants

This summer, the Administration for Community Living’s (ACL) Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) State Partnership Program awarded three additional grants to states in accordance with the Federal TBI State Partnership Grant Program. States awarded two-year grants are: Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, Maine Department of Health and Human Services, and The Ohio State University. ACL awarded grants to 24 states last year, bringing the total to 27 states currently receiving grants authorized by the TBI Program Reauthorization Act of 2018. The recent grantees identified several areas of focus, including behavioral health services; state infrastructure; empowering consumers and families to advocate for culturally competent, person-centered services; Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services waivers; substance use disorders, including opioid use, and co-occurring conditions; or a combination of these issues.

BIAA gratefully acknowledges the Centre for Neuro Skills and Avanir Pharmaceuticals for their support for legislative action.