PAHPA, CHGME, SUPPORT Act bills clear House committee

The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed 15 health-related bills approved by its health subcommittee last week, including bills that would reauthorize the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Program, and key programs within the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities (SUPPORT) Act.  
 
The PAHPA reauthorization bills (H.R. 4421 and H.R. 4420) passed along party lines, with Democrats objecting to a lack of provisions to address drug shortages. The CHGME bill (H.R. 3887), also passed without Democratic support, would reauthorize payments to children’s hospitals that operate Graduate Medical Education programs for fiscal years 2024 through 2028 and prohibit payments to CHGME recipients that furnish gender-affirming procedures or drugs for minors. The Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act (H.R. 4531), which passed with bipartisan support, would reauthorize key SUPPORT Act programs for patients with substance use disorder and permanently extend required Medicaid coverage for medication-assisted treatments. As amended and urged by the AHA, the bill also would permanently extend the option for state Medicaid programs to receive federal matching payments for SUD treatment provided in certain Institutions for Mental Disease for up to 30 days over a 12-month period.