ADVOCACY ALERT: Ask Your Members of Congress to Protect Medicaid
Congressional committees will soon begin marking up components of a reconciliation bill aimed at advancing key elements of President Trump’s policy agenda. Notably, the House Energy and Commerce Committee—which has primary jurisdiction over Medicaid and other healthcare programs—is expected to mark up its section of the legislation next week. The Committee has been directed to achieve at least $880 billion in deficit reduction, making significant cuts to Medicaid a real and pressing concern.
As Congress begins formal budget deliberations, it is more important than ever for the hospital community’s collective voice to be heard. We encourage you to immediately reach out to your local member of Congress and explain the real world impact any Medicaid cuts will have on patient care and the communities you serve. It is critical that members of Congress understand the direct impact their decisions will have on hospitals and patients across Illinois. Your advocacy is essential as we work alongside our partners at the American Hospital Association (AHA) to maximize our voice with Illinois’ Congressional delegation to ensure the protection of vital hospital funding.
ACTION REQUESTED: Please contact your Congressional representative and urge them to reject harmful funding cuts to Medicaid and other healthcare programs. Explain how cuts to Medicaid and other programs would reduce access to care and services for their constituents.
Click here to access a digital messaging platform with a pre-populated message that will allow you to directly email your member of Congress to explain how cuts to Medicaid and other programs would reduce access to care and services for their constituents and your community. Share the link with your employees and encourage their engagement and action on this critical issue.
IDPH Webinar: Measles and Tuberculosis Preparedness for Clinicians
The Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) is hosting a clinician-directed interactive informational session on “Measles and Tuberculosis Preparedness for Clinicians” during its May 15 FAST PHACT session. All healthcare professionals are invited to participate.
This FAST PHACT session will be held from noon-1 p.m. CT and will provide:
- Updated IDPH advisories and resources for clinicians on measles assessment, testing and reporting;
- Information on TB cases and updates for Illinois; and
- Discussion about school and clinical collaboration on public health response.
Click here to register for the May 15 FAST PHACT session, and upcoming webinars in the series. Additional information about the session can be found
here. Continuing Medical Education Credit is available.
Resources Available: Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week
According to the most recent National Survey of Children’s Health, nearly 26% of children ages 3-17 had a mental, emotional, developmental or behavioral problem. Of those children, approximately 20% did not receive needed mental health treatment or counseling from a mental health professional in the past 12 months.
Click here for more information on mental and behavioral health and resources from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA).
HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau is working to close that gap through the
Pediatric Mental Health Care Access program. This program offers free teleconsultation services for health professionals to help them better care for children and youth in their practice with behavioral health concerns. Most consultations are completed in as little as 30 minutes and almost always within one business day.
Illinois’
BEACON Children’s Behavioral Health Care Portal provides a centralized resource for connecting Illinois families with local providers and state-funded programs. Access IHA’s memo on how hospitals can use BEACON
here. More helpful information can be found on IHA’s Behavioral Health webpage, which includes policy updates, comment letters and resources for hospitals and health systems. The webpage also features the Illinois
Youth Resources for Mental Health, Well-Being and Resilience, a referral guide developed by IHA’s Behavioral Health Advisory Forum that lists mental health services for children, adolescents and others. The guide is also available in
Spanish.
Electronic Surveillance Flags Sepsis Antibiotic Overtreatment
A new study
published in
Clinical Infectious Diseases—funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality—demonstrates the effectiveness of using electronic health record data to identify potential antibiotic overtreatment in sepsis cases. Researchers developed and validated a sepsis overtreatment surveillance metric that revealed overtreatment in 22.5% of 113,764 adult emergency department patients who received IV antibiotics within three hours of admission but did not have a blood culture ordered. Additionally, 7.6% of patients received antibiotics within one hour of admission, which was also flagged as potential overtreatment. The findings showed that these patients had longer hospital stays, more days on antibiotics, higher in-hospital mortality rates and a greater risk of
Clostridioides difficile infection within six months post-discharge.
