Boston Children's Hospital focuses on pediatric workforce education, public health and medical research policy issues impacting children. In the 119th Congress, we have advocated for funding through the appropriations process for the Children's Hospital Graduate Medical Education program (CHGME), the National Institutes of Health, the Pediatric Specialty Loan Repayment Program and community project funding for construction in Boston, MA.
Boston Children's Hospital advocates for medical research funding generally (eg NIH) and to assure an emphasis on pediatric research issues and concerns. In the current Congress, we have sought increases in the overall NIH appropriation level, and worked to assure better coordination across NIH institutes for pediatric initiatives. We opposed early proposals to dramatically reduce F&A rates and shared information about alternative proposal and continue to advocate for the reform model. Our informatics research program has provided information on disease surveillance/pandemic preparedness, health IT and interoperability concerns to Congressional leaders.
Boston Childrens has advocated for the protection and preservation of the Medicaid system, with particular emphasis on maintaining benefits most impactful to children such as EPSDT. We have also supported policies to facilitate the ability of children on Medicaid or CHIP to receive care from out-of-state providers. This includes H.R. 1509 and S. 752, the Accelerating Kids Access to Care Act, included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, and its implementation. In the current Congress, we raised concerns about HR1's impact on children and pediatric providers during both the legislative and implementation process.