Get up to
Date on Federal MCH Policy
The
next event in the All-Member National MCH Policy Call series will take place on
May 3 from 2-3 p.m. ET.
AMCHP Urges Senate Health Committee to Include Maternal
Mortality Bill in Opioid Legislative Package
AMCHP, together with the American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, March of Dimes, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine,
sent a letter last
week to the leadership of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions (HELP) Committee urging them to include S.
1112, the bipartisan Maternal Health Accountability Act, in the
committee’s proposed Opioid
Crisis Response Act of 2018. The act, led by Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Shelley Moore Capito
(R-W.Va.), would build on state-led solutions to tackle the problem of maternal
mortality, including maternal deaths due to drug overdoses. The bill would provide
funding for states to establish or expand maternal mortality review committees to
review individual maternal deaths and make targeted recommendations based on
those findings to prevent maternal deaths in the future. The HELP Committee
hopes to formally consider the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 in a markup
this spring.
Congressional Hearings on the Opioid Crisis
Committees in the House and Senate have renewed their focus on
legislation to combat the opioid crisis. The House Energy and Commerce
Committee’s Health Subcommittee has held three
legislative hearings on combatting the opioid crisis since the
beginning of 2018. The hearings focused on public health and prevention
efforts, balancing enforcement with public safety, and insurance coverage and
payment issues. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP)
Committee has held seven
bipartisan hearings on the opioid crisis since October 2017. Out
of these hearings, Senate HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and
Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-W.Va. ) developed draft legislation called
the Opioid
Crisis Response Act of 2018 that incorporates 29 Senate legislative
proposals.
The House and Senate committee hearings on the opioid crisis
include provisions related to the impact of this epidemic on maternal and child
health populations. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden
(R-Ore.) has said he wants opioid legislation to pass the House by Memorial Day
weekend. Senate HELP Committee Chairman Alexander has said he hopes to formally
markup opioid legislation in his committee this spring.