Alert

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the Department of Health and Human Services, yesterday joined 40 of his Senate colleagues in sending a bipartisan letter to HHS Secretary Tom Price emphasizing the importance of rural health providers and urging the secretary to rein in excessive regulations that make it harder for them to deliver quality care.

“As you take on this new leadership role at HHS, we request that you work with us to ensure that the federal government does not act as an impediment to providing health care in rural communities,” the senators wrote. “Overreaching and onerous regulations from Washington disproportionately harm rural America. We believe that together we can enact and implement effective policies that help providers innovate in care delivery and enable them to make efficient use of available resources.”

As chairman, Blunt secured increases for rural health programs in the FY 2016 omnibus appropriations bill and the committee-passed FY 2017 Senate Labor/HHS appropriations bill, in addition to rejecting rural health funding reductions proposed in President Obama’s budget. Blunt also included language in the FY 2017 Labor/HHS bill encouraging the Office of Rural Health Policy to explore how telehealth networks can be used to improve and expand treatment and prevention services for opioid use disorder, especially in rural communities. The bill specifically funded a program, administered through the Delta Regional Authority, to help rural hospitals.

Blunt added, “The obstacles faced by patients and providers in rural communities are unique and often significantly different than those in urban areas. I look forward to working with Secretary Price to better address these challenges and ensure all Missourians have access to quality health care they can afford.”

In May of 2015, Blunt held a rural health care appropriations hearing with HHS officials and members of the rural health provider community, including Tim Wolters from Citizens Memorial Hospital in Bolivar, Mo.

The full text of the letter is available here.