Action Needed for SORH Appropriation
NOSORH is asking State Offices to contact their Senate members and request that House and Senate conferees agree to the House appropriated and Congressional authorized number for the SORH. In 2018, Congress passed and the President signed into law (Public Law 115-408), the State Offices of Rural Health Reauthorization Act of 2018 (S. 2278). The law authorizes the appropriation of $12,500,000 for the SORH grant program for each of fiscal years 2018 through 2022. Feel free to share this SORH Appropriations Factsheet.
Senate Releases FY 2020 Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill
On September 18, Senate appropriators released a draft FY 2020 appropriations bill for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education and related agencies. The draft Senate Labor-HHS bill included reductions in overall rural health spending compared to its House counterpart.
The Senate bill would fund the State Offices of Rural Health (SORH) at $10 million annually compared to the $12,500,000 the House appropriated. If the Senate bill passes in its current form, the two chambers would need to reconcile a number of substantive differences on both spending levels and policy provisions including the SORH line.
Congress Averts Shutdown, Passes CR
On September 26, the Senate passed a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the federal government at the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 rate until November 21, 2019 and avoids a government shutdown. Senate passage of H.R. 4378 clears the way for President Trump to sign the bill by September 30, the final day of FY 2019.
The CR delays the $4 billion Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payment cuts scheduled to take effect October 1. This is especially timely as earlier this week, CMS finalized its rule implementing cuts to state Medicaid DSH allotments by $4 billion next year. Under this rule, DSH payments will set cuts worth $8 billion for the following five years. These cuts are set to take effect November 22, 2019. Additionally, it extends the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic demonstration program through November 21. The legislation also extends funding for Community Health Centers, the National Health Service Corps, Teaching Health Centers that operate graduate medical education programs, among others.
Lawmakers from both parties are optimistic that this will be the only continuing resolution needed for funding fiscal year 2020, which begins October 1. However, ongoing disputes on issues including abortion policy, the border wall, and spending levels for non-defense programs could lead to several more stopgap measures.