7/27/2011

Ask Your Member of Congress To Vote For An Amendment To Provide Funding To Children’s Psychiatric Hospitals

The FULL COMMITTEE VOTE is Tomorrow!

Thank you to those of you who contacted your Representative earlier this week regarding the Engel amendment to the Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education Support Reauthorization Act in the Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee! This bill has been passed out of subcommittee and will now be voted on by the full House Energy and Commerce Committee.

This second and separate vote will take place tomorrow morning we need to make sure that the members of the full Energy and Commerce Committee hear from child and adolescent psychiatrists about the importance of this amendment.

If your member of Congress is on the list below, please take a moment to contact them to ask them to support the Engel amendment to the Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Support Reauthorization Act.

ENGEL AMENDEMENT BACKGROUND: The children’s hospital graduate medical education program is being reauthorized in the House of Representatives. An amendment by Elliot Engle (D-NY) that would allow a small number of children’s psychiatric teaching hospitals to become eligible for funding from this program is going to be introduced. We need to tell members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to VOTE YES on this amendment!

CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL GME REAUTHORIZATION BACKGROUND: Under the current Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education Payment Program (CHGME), children’s psychiatric teaching hospitals are exempt from funding. A bill called The Children’s Hospital Education Equity Act was introduced by Representative Ciciline (D-RI) last week. This bill would expand the definition of a “children's hospital” to include “a freestanding psychiatric hospital with 90 percent or more inpatients under the age of 18, that has its own Medicare provider number as of December 6, 1999, and that has an accredited residency program.”

Call your Representative’s office and ask them to “vote YES on Representative Engel’s amendment to the Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education Reauthorization Act during tomorrow’s Energy and Commerce Committee markup.”

If your Representative is on the list below, he/she is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and it is VITAL that you contact them today.

Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross (AR-4) 202-225-3772

California Rep. (CA-5) 202-225-7163 Rep. (CA-14) 202-225-8104 Rep. (CA-23) 202-225-3601 Rep. (CA-30) 202-225-3576 Rep. Mack (CA-45) 202-225-5330 Rep. Brian Bilbray (CA-50) 202-225-0508

Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette (CO-1) 202-225-4431 Rep. Cory Gardner (CO-4) 202-225-4676

Florida Rep. Cliff Sterns (FL-6) 202-225-5744

Georgia Rep. Phil Gingrey (GA-11) 202-225-2931 Rep. John Barrow (GA-12) 202-225-2823

Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush (IL-1) 202-225-4372 Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-9) 202-225-2111 Rep. Adam Kinzinger (IL-11) 202-225-3635 Rep. John Shimkus (IL-19) 202-225-5271

Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo (KS-4) 202-225-6216

Kentucky Rep. Edward Whitfield (KY-1) 202-225-3115 Rep. Brett Guthrie (KY-2) 202-225-3501

Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise (LA-1) 202-225-3015 Rep. Bill Cassidy (LA-6) 202-225-3901

Massachusetts Rep. Edward Markey (MA-7) 202-225-1688

Michigan Rep. Fred Upton (MI-6) 202-225-3761 Rep. Mike Rogers (MI-8) 202-225-4872 Rep. John Dingell (MI-15) 202-225-4071

Mississippi Rep. Greg Harper (MS-3) 202-225-5031

Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry (NE-2) 202-225-4806

Hew Hampshire Rep. Charlie Bass (NH-2) 202-225-5206

New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone (NJ-6) 202-225-4671 Rep. Leonard Lance (NJ-7) 202-225-5361

New York Rep. Edolphus Towns (NY-10) 202-225-5936

North Carolina Rep. G.K. Butterfield (NC-1) 202-225-3101 Rep. Sue Myrick (NC-9) 202-225-1976

Ohio Rep. Bob Latta (OH-5) 202-225-6405

Oklahoma Rep. John Sullivan (OK-1) 202-225-2211

Oregon Rep. Greg Walden (OR-2) 202-225-6730

Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle (PA-14) 202-225-2135 Rep. Joe Pitts (PA-16) 202-225-2411 Rep. Tim Murphy (PA-18) 202-225-2301

Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn (TN-7) 202-225-2811

Texas Rep. Joe Barton (TX-6) 202-225-2002 Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (TX-20) 202-225-3236 Rep. Pete Olson (TX-22) 202-225-5951 Rep. Michael Burgess (TX-26) 202-225-7772 Rep. Gene Green (TX-29) 202-225-1688

Utah Rep. Jim Matheson (UT-2) 202-225-3011

Virginia Rep. Morgan Griffith (VA-9) 202-225-3861

Washington Rep. Jay Inslee (WA-1) 202-225-6311 Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5) 202-225-2006

Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin (WI-2) 202-225-2906

West Virginia Rep. David McKinley (WV-1) 202-225-4172

Talking points:

 Inpatient children’s psychiatric hospitals tailor care and treatment to children with serious mental and behavioral health conditions. Enabling residents to learn about the most effective treatment options for children with mental and behavioral health conditions will improve care for children across the country.

 Like other children’s hospitals, children’s psychiatric hospitals cannot receive GME funding through Medicare because of their unique patient-mix. Children’s psychiatric hospitals, however, also cannot receive CHGME funding to support their residency programs because they are licensed as psychiatric hospitals, not children’s hospitals, despite almost exclusively treating children.

 Only one-half of one percent of the total CHGME funds would be used to support residency programs in children’s psychiatric hospitals. Under the Engel amendment, only a limited number of children’s psychiatric hospitals would qualify for this funding.

If you have any questions, please let us know. Kristin Kroeger Ptakowski, Director of Government Affairs & Clinical Practice ([email protected]) Michael Linskey, Assistant Director, Federal Government Affairs ([email protected]) Elizabeth DiLauro, Grassroots Advocacy Manager ([email protected]) Karen Davis, Legislative Coordinator ([email protected])