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Children's Hospital Association
Washington Update
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Public Policy Update Call
Register in advance for the call on Monday, March 20, at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Congressional Schedule
Both the House and Senate will be in session next week.

ACTIONS

FEEDBACK REQUESTED BY 11:00 A.M. ET ON MARCH 20 
Provide feedback on draft RFI on workforce shortages and update on workforce
workgroup – As we have shared previously, we are working on our response to the
Senate HELP Committee request for information (RFI) on health care shortages,
which is due Monday, March 20. Our draft RFI response emphasizes the importance
of considering the unique challenges facing the pediatric health care workforce,
especially in your hospitals, and solutions. We are sorry for the quick
turnaround, but please share any feedback with Jan Kaplan by 11:00 a.m. ET on
March 20 so we can incorporate it into our final comments. 

We have been working with the newly formed workforce workgroup on the draft and
it incorporates challenges and policy solutions that we have heard from the
workgroup, but also our broader membership. Members of the workgroup include:
Lindsey Berman (co-chair), Daniella Gratale (co-chair), Jennifer Carusetta,
Lindsay Punzenberger, Alyce Norcross, Andrea Stoesz, Kimberly Avila Edwards,
Tony Gutowski and Ellen Stern. As always, if you have questions or thoughts
about workforce policy, please reach out to Jan Kaplan, Elizabeth Brown or any
of the workgroup members. 

FEEDBACK REQUESTED BY MARCH 20 
Highlighting children’s hospitals in new Hill newsletter – Check out the March
edition of our monthly newsletter to the Hill which highlights the latest news
from children’s hospitals and CHA, including the unique ways your hospitals help
children in your community and across the country. We are looking for stories
for next month, so please contact Elizabeth Brown or Erin Fernandez and submit
your content by March 20. 

SIGN ON BY MARCH 22 
House CHGME appropriations letter now circulating – Reps. Eshoo and Johnson are
circulating the House CHGME appropriations sign-on letter . As many of you are
in the midst of filling out appropriations forms, please share with your members
of Congress. The deadline for House members to sign on is COB Wednesday, March
22. Your member of Congress will need to sign on using the House Quill system,
which is linked in the Dear Colleague. CHA will also be contacting all offices
who signed on last year and then we will do broader outreach. Additionally, we
are waiting on the final word from our Senate Champions on their letter and we
will share once they start circulating in the Senate. Elizabeth Brown 

FEEDBACK REQUESTED BY MARCH 24 
Deadline Update: Please complete workforce questionnaire by March 24 – Thank you
to everyone who has already submitted their responses to our brief questionnaire
on children’s hospitals workforce/CHGME challenges and innovations. If you have
not yet submitted your responses, we strongly urge you to do so before the end
of next week. Your responses are critically important to our collective advocacy
to strengthen the pediatric workforce. We have created a Word version that you
can share with your team but ask that you submit your responses online. Jan
Kaplan  

FEEDBACK REQUESTED BY APRIL 4 
Medicaid DSH Third Party Payer proposed rule summary – We have created a summary
outlining the key provisions of the Medicaid DSH Third Party Payer proposed rule
. This proposed rule implements a statutory change altering the calculation of
hospital-specific DSH limits to only include costs and revenues associated with
care to individuals with Medicaid as their primary payer, a provision that
children’s hospitals advocated for a couple of years ago. Other provisions in
the proposed rule provide guidance on reporting of DSH payments and some
administrative and technical changes to the DSH program. CHA will comment and
requests hospital feedback on the rule by April 4. Comments are due to CMS by
April 25. Milena Berhane  

REGISTRATION REQUIRED BY APRIL 5 
2023 Family Advocacy Day: Deadline three weeks away – Registration for the
Children’s Hospital Association’s Family Advocacy Day (FAD) is now open! This
year Family Advocacy Day will be back in-person at the JW Marriott in
Washington, D.C., June 20-22, 2023 . Day 1 will include Washington, D.C. tours;
Day 2 will have programming, briefings, hill meetings and an evening
celebration; Day 3 will be the official Capitol Hill Day. Like previous FADs,
customized materials will be produced for each patient champion. Before
beginning your registration, we recommend you print the questions and provide
them to your family to answer. The deadline for registration is Wednesday, April
5, 2023. We recently added a tentative schedule at a glance and FAQ document to
our event page. Elleni Almandrez 

Take action: Call for case studies on CDC vaccine programs – We are looking for
case studies to feature as part of our CDC grant on vaccine confidence with the
AHA. If your hospital ran a vaccine program, please share successes with CHA and
AHA. We are working on blog posts and podcasts to highlight stories from
hospitals. See example here. Paige Mihalik 



NEWS

CHA submits response to House PAHPA RFI; Senate RFI released – On Monday, we
submitted our response to the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA)
request for information (RFI) from Reps. Eshoo and Hudson. Our response
emphasizes the importance of considering the unique health care needs of
children and the pediatric health care system when reauthorizing PAHPA programs
and initiatives this year. On Wednesday, the Senate HELP Committee released its
own RFI soliciting stakeholder input on priorities for the upcoming
reauthorization. We welcome your perspectives to inform our response by March
24. The Senate deadline is March 29. Natalie Torentinos 

CHA submits comments on interoperability and prior authorization – On Monday,
March 13, we submitted comments to CMS on the Advancing Interoperability and
Prior Authorization proposed rule . The proposed rule aims to streamline prior
authorization processes and modify related electronic data exchange requirements
for plans and providers. Our comments highlighted provisions within the proposed
rule that would affect children’s health and hospitals. We also included
additional recommendations to improve the exchange of electronic health
information and prior authorization processes in pediatric care. Thank you to
everyone who submitted input and feedback on this proposed rule, as they were
critical in informing our final comments. Milena Berhane 

MACPAC releases 2023 report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP – On March 15,
MACPAC released its 2023 Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP. The report
outlines MACPAC’s policy recommendations and insights on the following issues of
interest to Congress: 

 * Measures aimed at improving the collection of race and ethnicity data. 
 * Increasing transparency in nursing facility payment data. 
 * Annual, statutorily required report on Medicaid disproportionate share
   hospital payments. 
 * Giving states greater flexibility in following Medicare drug coverage
   decisions. CHA provided public comment on this issue and raised the
   potentially harmful implications these statutory changes would have on
   children covered by Medicaid. The report does not mention any pediatric
   implications of this proposed recommendation. We are continuing to monitor
   any potential impacts it may have on children if Congress considers this
   policy change. Milena Berhane 

Nemours Children’s Health podcast covers importance of CHGME – As part of our
efforts to celebrate Match Day this week, Nemours Children’s Health and CHA
released a podcast episode focused on the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical
Education (CHGME) Program. The podcast discusses the current pediatric provider
workforce shortage and shares stories and examples to highlight why funding for
CHGME is critical to building a strong pediatric workforce pipeline.  

Featuring Dr. Larry Moss, president and CEO of Nemours Children’s, and Amy
Wimpey Knight, president of CHA, the podcast provides policy recommendations
related to this year’s CHGME reauthorization and appropriations for Congress to
consider. Elleni Almandrez 

CNN highlights demand for pediatric beds – CNN recently covered the importance
of pediatric hospitals and the complexities of pediatric bed capacities. The
article does a deep dive into staff burnout from the pandemic, the importance of
Medicaid, rural communities, the surge of the triple-demic and the youth mental
health crisis. “With the ongoing mental health crisis, there’s more work to be
done upstream,” said Amy Wimpey Knight, president of CHA. Read the article here.
Elleni Almandrez 

Behavioral health virtual series: March 14 session on state funding tracker – On
March 14, we hosted a webinar as part of the Behavioral Health Learning Series
introducing and reviewing CHA’s state-funded behavioral health initiative
tracker, a resource that includes information on behavioral health initiatives
states funded in their FY 2023 budgets. Members can use this tracker to identify
behavioral health initiatives in their states and see what other states are
doing for their advocacy and other related efforts. All materials related to
this webinar, including the tracker, slides and recording, can be found on the
2023 Behavioral Health Learning Series page. Milena Berhane 

CMS announces first Health Equity Conference – CMS announced its inaugural
Health Equity Conference to be held at Howard University in Washington, D.C.,
June 7-8, 2023. This free conference will include both in-person and virtual
participation and will convene leaders in health equity from federal agencies,
health provider organizations, academia and community-based organizations.
Conference attendees will have the opportunity to discuss promising practices
and innovate solutions and collaborate on community engagement efforts and hear
from CMS’s leadership on recent developments and updates on CMS programs.
Academics, researchers, community organizations and others are encouraged to
submit presentation proposals before April 14. For more information on
submitting a proposal and the overall event,  click here. Stacy Wathen 



EVENTS

REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Behavioral Health Virtual Learning Series – Invite your teams and register to
join us for the next two sessions of the Behavioral Health Learning Series!
Designed to drive action, each session incorporates time for you and your teams
to reflect on the information shared and identify next steps to implement
applicable strategies at your organization. 

Slides and materials from this week’s session, “State-funded Behavioral Health
Initiatives: Tracker Resource Overview,” are now available. The next session
will be, “Improving Safety and Mental Health Care Delivery in the ED,” on April
4, 2:00 p.m. ET. Register today and stay tuned for more opportunities to engage
with this series. Cynthia Whitney 



RESOURCES
.  
Frequently updated COVID-19 resources for GRs:  

 * CHA policy hub – Find resources of interest on our COVID policy webpage. 
 * CHA/AAP pediatric state COVID-19 surveillance report – The weekly CHA and AAP
   pediatric state data surveillance report informs children’s hospitals,
   pediatricians, external stakeholders and policymakers about how COVID-19 is
   impacting children. 



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