Senate panel advances workforce, maternal health bills

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today voted 14-7 to advance as amended to the full Senate the Bipartisan Primary Care and Health Workforce Expansion Act (S. 2840), legislation that would cut hospitals and health systems to fund community health centers and health care workforce initiatives.

AHA this week urged the committee to remove the site-neutral proposals, which would eliminate facility fees for telehealth and evaluation and management services, require a separate identification number for each off-campus outpatient department of a provider, and prevent providers from negotiating reasonable agreements with commercial health insurance plans.

In other action, the committee voted to advance the Preventing Maternal Deaths Reauthorization Act (S. 2415/H.R. 3838), AHA-supported legislation that would reauthorize federal support for state-based maternal mortality review committees, which review pregnancy-related deaths to identify causes and make recommendations to prevent future mortalities. Passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in July, the bill also would require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to work with the Health Resources and Services Administration to disseminate best practices to prevent maternal mortality to hospitals and other health care providers.