PHIMA Advocacy e-Alert — April 8, 2022
PHIMA Advocacy Efforts
On Monday, March 28, PHIMA members participated in the AHIMA Advocacy Summit. The summit consisted of a day full of sessions and education. One session addressed the current efforts to repeal Section 510 of the Labor/HHS Appropriations bill which bans the use of federal funds to create a national patient identifier. Congressman Bill Foster, who is leading efforts to remove the ban, spoke about the need to create a patient identification system to improve interoperability, data integrity, and patient safety.
Tuesday, March 29 was AHIMA Hill day; members attended scheduled meetings with Congressional Representatives and Senators. All of our PHIMA members met together with the offices of Sen. Bob Casey and Sen. Pat Toomey. Individually, we met with our Representatives in Congress. In addition to the repeal of Section 510, members were also advocating to support new legislation known as S509/HR 6072, the LINC to Address Social Needs Act. This legislation would provide funding for states to develop or enhance existing infrastructure to connect health care and social services.
Our members provided information on these issues and answered questions for the representatives and staffers, and will follow up as needed. We want out representatives to know that PHIMA and AHIMA can serve as excellent resources in matters of health information.
We will continue our advocacy, and we’re proud to share that Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick has already signed on in support of HR 6072, LINC to Address Social Needs Act!
And Save the date for next year, AHIMA Advocacy Summit and Hill Day, March 20 – 21, 2023!
We’d love to hear your voice!
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