AHCA/NCAL: Town Hall featuring HHS Official Admiral Rachel Levine – Tuesday, December 21
Town Hall featuring HHS Official Admiral Rachel Levine
Tuesday, December 21
4:00 pm Eastern
As the Omicron variant continues to rapidly spread across the U.S., and data continues to show the effectiveness of boosters in fighting this new variant, the urgency to get long term care residents and staff a booster before January 1 has never been greater.
On Tuesday, December 21 at 4:00 pm Eastern, AHCA/NCAL, LeadingAge and the AARP will co-host a town hall featuring Admiral Rachel L. Levine, Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the head of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps to answer questions about the Omicron variant, boosters, and why we need to step up the timeline to get the booster. Read more
When it’s time for the webinar:
A Message from the President & CEO Mark Parkinson
The Build Back Better Act is Done for Now
You may have seen the news that Senator Manchin has announced his opposition to the Build Back Better Act (BBB). This effectively kills the bill for now.
There were provisions in the bill that nursing home providers could not have realistically met. At a time when it’s impossible to hire a RN, the legislation would have required us to hire 21,000 more of them. There were also provisions that would have created additional regulations on us when we are already highly over regulated. These provisions were disconnected from reality and deeply disappointing.
We’ve learned quite a bit during the last 10 months of lobbying on this bill. They include:
- We know who our friends on the Hill are and are not. This forced some of the politicos to show us their cards and has given us valuable info moving forward.
- We know what the priorities of the advocates are and what they are likely to push in the future.
- We have once again seen the effectiveness of Clif Porter and the entire AHCA/NCAL Government Relations team. We won this delay because of Manchin’s announcement, but Clif had multiple other paths that were taking us to success even before this announcement.
The caption of the email says “for now” because legislation is never dead until the gavel comes down on the last legislative session of a term. We will have to continue to fight this battle on three fronts.
- The Democrats will make a run at taking a different version to Manchin.
- The advocates will try to insert portions of the legislation into other must pass bills.
- The Administration will realize it can’t do anything on the Hill and instruct CMS to get aggressive through rules and regulations. Some of the proposals in BBB could show up in new CMS regs.
All three of these things will happen, so we will have our hands full. We will be ready, and because we will stay united and because we are right on the policy, we will prevail. But there will be many battles ahead.
For now, all is well. Thanks for your continued encouragement and support. Hopefully this news will help you have some rest and peace during the holiday season.
Mark Parkinson
President & CEO, AHCA/NCAL
Please email COVID19@ahca.org for additional questions, or visit ahcancal.org/coronavirus for more information.
NYSHFA/NYSCAL CONTACTS:
Lisa Volk, RN, B.P.S., LNHA
Director, Clinical & Quality Services
518-462-4800 x15
