On July 5, Dr. Tom Price, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, visited Emory University Hospital to learn more about the National Ebola Training and Education Center (NETEC), a collaborative effort between Emory, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Bellevue Hospital in New York. A federal grant for NETEC has provided $24 million over 5 years, which is being used to train health care providers across the country in infectious disease care. The Secretary met with Emory leaders, including President Claire Sterk and EUH CEO Bryce Gartland, to discuss national preparedness efforts and tour Emory’s Serious Communicable Diseases Unit (SCDU).

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) plans to move forward next week with a procedural vote on the GOP healthcare bill, although it remains uncertain whether the required 50 votes, needed for passage, exist. A new Congressional Budget Office score of the revised Senate healthcare bill is expected early next week before the vote. Emory continues to work with the Georgia congressional delegation to ensure Georgia, a non-expansion state and a traditionally low Medicaid spender, is not disadvantaged. A bipartisan group of Senators is discussing a “Plan B,” which reportedly would create a reinsurance fund as well as authorize cost-sharing payments for insurers to cover a sicker pool of customers without raising premiums. It would not include Medicaid reform.

Emory closely monitors the Labor-HHS appropriations bill as it directs funding and policy for a number of our priorities, including research and student aid.  This week, the House Labor-HHS subcommittee marked up the bill and included a proposed increase in the total budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as provisions to avoid a cap on facilities and administrative costs and a drop in the executive salary level.  While we are pleased with the appropriators’ dedication to NIH, the bill signals trouble for other priorities, such as public health.  Emory will continue to educate our elected officials about the importance of strong and sustained funding.  Here is the draft bill

On July 7, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald was appointed as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Fitzgerald has served as the Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner and state health officer since 2011. An Emory School of Medicine and ob-gyn residency alum, Dr. Fitzgerald has been a good partner to the Woodruff Health Sciences Center. For example, she is an adjunct professor at Rollins School of Public Health, and she has been an important collaborator on our Ebola response and management. She understands the capabilities and role of academic health systems, and we look forward to working with Dr. Fitzgerald in her new national and international role.

Lawmakers are two months overdue on the FY2018 budget, leaving appropriators to guess at top-line numbers that the budget resolution is supposed to set. The next fiscal year begins October 1.  One complicating factor is the sequester, which returns in force in FY2018, and would cut funding across the board. A second complicating factor is the debt limit update, which needs to be addressed by September 30. Currently, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the federal government is expected to run out of money to pay its debts in early- to mid-October. Emory continues to advocate for strong and consistent funding for the areas, such as research and financial aid, that are the nation’s best investments. Specifically, we are advocating for Congress to reach a bipartisan deal to raise the FY2018 caps to at least the FY2017 funding levels.