The Shadow
On July 3, I received the appointment to be the new Chair for the Health Subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Following my appointment, I made some of my first public actions visiting rural hospitals and health centers in Southwest Virginia.
My first hospital visit took place in Pennington Gap at the Lee County Community Hospital operated by Ballad Health.
As the new Vice Chair of the Health Subcommittee, Tennessee Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger traveled from East Tennessee to the Lee County hospital to also participate in a roundtable discussion with Ballad Health leadership and staff.
As part of the Health Subcommittee, Vice Chair Harshbarger and I have the ability to influence health care policies in Congress and policymakers from executive agencies, like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Some officials expressed their concerns to us about federal changes to the Medicaid state provider tax that passed in the reconciliation act.
Many want to know the impacts of these changes on rural hospitals and their abilities to serve patients.
The topic is particularly sensitive for Lee County Community Hospital, which closed its doors in 2013, due partly to federal policies in Obamacare.
I was proud to work with Senator Warner, Senator Kaine, the community and Ballad Health to reopen the Hospital in 2021. Further, I am committed to ensuring its operations continue.
During our discussions, I made it clear that I will continue pushing policies that help improve rural health care.
This was a consistent discussion theme throughout my hospital visits.
Following our conversations in Lee County, I drove to Richlands in Tazewell County.
The Clinch Valley Medical Center operates as part of Lifepoint Health. The obstetrics and gynecology department that helps deliver babies is the closest such location for many expectant mothers in the region, and for some the only reasonable location option.
After my discussions in Richlands, I traveled east to Giles County.
Carilion Clinic operates Pearisburg’s Carilion Giles Community Hospital.
I spoke with Carilion officials and staff before heading to Blacksburg.
I concluded my Wednesday hospital visits in Blacksburg, where I visited LewisGale Hospital Montgomery.
Each of these hospitals is part of a hospital group.
The following day, I went to Martinsville and toured the Connect Health + Wellness dental facility.
Connect Health + Wellness is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). It is one of 61 FQHCs in the Ninth District, the most of any Congressional district in Virginia.
Aside from Martinsville, Connect also operates separate clinics to provide health services to local residents in Henry and Patrick Counties.
I am committed to using my position on the Health panel to work with Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie so we can analyze the status of our rural hospitals and explore improvements to health care access for rural communities.
I appreciate all of our rural hospital providers for their diligent work to administer health care services to our sick and healthy, young and old.
To help them in their efforts, one potential health care policy solution is increased access to telehealth.
Throughout my tenure on the Health Subcommittee, I have been a consistent proponent of telehealth measures that enable faster access to medical care for patients in rural areas.
I will also be steadfast in monitoring the impacts from the reconciliation bill. One particular provision in the bill establishes a $50 billion rural hospital stabilization fund, but how it will be implemented remains to be seen.
It is necessary that we ensure the funds are appropriately allocated to rural areas that are underserved.
One problem for rural health care is the lack of health care providers. One idea to solve that problem is to expand utilization of money to the National Health Service Corps to pay off student loans for medical providers if they move to a rural area and stay for 2+ years. Often when young health care providers come to our region, they fall in love with the region and the people.
As I begin my chairmanship of the Health Subcommittee, I remain dedicated to improving access and costs for better rural health care. In addition, I look forward to continuing a dialogue with a
