House Passes Schakowsky, Burgess "EMPOWER For Health Act"

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), a Senior Chief Deputy Whip and Chair of the Energy and Commerce Consumer Protection and Commerce subcommittee, and Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (TX-26) today announced that the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passedH.R. 2781, the Educating Medical Professionals and Optimizing Workforce Efficiency and Readiness (EMPOWER) for Health Actof 2019. This legislation is designed to increase access to health care in underserved areas and diversify the health care providers to meet the needs of different populations. The bill would assure funding at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for health professions workforce, education, and training programs. It was introduced on May 16, 2019 and passed the Committee on Energy and Commerce unanimously on July 17, 2019.

"Today we have taken a significant step to better prepare and empower our national medical clinicians and providers improve the health of all people in the United States. The EMPOWER for Health Act will increase diversity in our medical service, improve geriatrics education and training, and grow the pediatric health care workforce. Without it, we could face a shortage of over 100,000 physicians in the United States by 2032. And if health care access were equitable across race, health insurance coverage, and geographic location, we would require almost 100,000 more physicians today. That is unacceptable for our growing, aging population, for children, and for all vulnerable communities,"said Congresswoman Schakowsky. "Today, we passed the bipartisan EMPOWER for Health Act, which will finally reauthorize critical Title VII funding to increase access to providers in underserved areas and ensure a more diverse health care workforce able to meet the needs of our entire population."

"Reauthorizing Title VII programs is long overdue, especially in a time when our existing physician workforce is struggling to keep up with demand for health care services," Burgess said. "As the Chairman of the E&C Health Subcommittee last Congress, I made it a priority to get this bill across the House floor. While I succeeded in doing so, the Senate did not take up the legislation. I hope this year, the Senate will reauthorize these critically important programs."

Title VII of the Public Health Service Act includes programs administered primarily through HRSA to support and educate the medical, dental, public health, and allied health professional workforce through grants that flow to institutions and directly to professionals and pre-professionals. Title VII workforce programs aim to reduce that shortage by bolstering the health workforce. With the goal of improving health and achieving health equity, many of the programs in Title VII place a particular emphasis on ensuring the United States has a diverse health workforce, which has been shown to improve patient satisfaction, patient-clinician communication, and access to care for patients belonging to minority populations. The EMPOWER for Health Act provides reauthorizations and updates for Title VII programs, and makes modifications to the programs, including the creation of a new workforce diversity program in the professions of physical therapy, occupational therapy, audiology, and speech-language pathology.

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