Senate HELP Committee Advances Health Workforce Legislation
On a bipartisan vote of 14-7 the Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) reported the Bipartisan Primary Care and
Health Workforce Act sponsored by Committee Chair U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
and U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS).
In
his remarks, Sanders noted that according to Louisiana State University, “as
many as 59 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes are designated Dental Health Professional
Shortage Areas by the Louisiana Department of Health. . . . More than a third
of Louisiana parishes have either no dentist or can count all available providers
on one hand.” And that “In Bennington County Vermont, low-income children
today are basically unable to get the dental care they need and frankly this is
not just Louisiana or Vermont, this is a crisis all over this country.” Nationwide, there are 7,378 dental shortage areas that are home
to 74 million people that will require 12,708 new dental professionals to provide access to care.
The bill will provide an increase in the authorization for
the Oral Health Training Programs at the Health Resources and Services Administration
from $42.4 million in fiscal year (FY) 2023 to $43.7 million in FY 2024, $44.0
million in FY 2025 and $44.3 million in FY 2026.
In addition, the legislation would increase the amount of funding
for federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) from $4 billion annually to $5.8
billion annually for the next three years. This will allow FQHCs to expand their
ability to provide high quality oral health care as well as primary medical care
and mental health counseling. In addition, the bill provides a one-time allocation
of $3 billion to be used to establish dental operatories so that community health
centers can expand their capabilities to provide oral health care.
Other provisions include tripling funding for the National
Health Service Corps to $950 million for the next three years and doubles funding
for Teaching Health Centers for the same period.
AGR will continue to review and monitor this legislation and report on its progress.
