Support for Healthcare Infrastructure and Accessibility

JUNE 2020

Support for Healthcare Infrastructure and Accessibility

CHEST has participated in many initiatives introduced by the healthcare community to ensure the financial infrastructure’s stability to respond to the COVID-19 crisis and to ensure patients have appropriate access to care. CHEST joined the American Medical Association and the American Thoracic Society, among other organizations, to bring specifics related to their patients’ needs to the attention of Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services.

In anticipation of additional Congressional action following passage of H.R. 748, the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” (CARES Act), a letter to House and Senate leaders called out specific requests related to:

■ Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payments
■ Medicare and Medicaid payments
■ Direct financial support
■ Small business loans
■ Telehealth (see “Telehealth Changes” below)
■ Support for resident physicians and students
■ Liability
■ Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)

The complete letter concludes, “We sincerely appreciate all that you have done in a short period of time to protect access to care by providing needed resources and policy changes to enable physicians to continue caring for patients in their time of need during this pandemic. Given the magnitude of the growing revenue shortfalls confronting physician practices across the country, we continue to need your support to preserve their viability so they can meet the needs of all patients. Thank you for considering our requests.”

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