Policy Updates: Hill Happenings and Administration Activities
Hill Happenings
2024 General Election
The 2024 general election is today, Tuesday, November 5, and the results will have major implications for health policy and legislation over the next four years. Former President Donald Trump (R) and Vice President Kamala Harris (D) laid out their healthcare policy priorities during their campaigns, but the viability of the future President-elect’s public health agenda will be determined by the balance of power in Congress. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 33 Senate seats are at play in the election, threatening the current Democrat majority in the Senate and the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. NASTAD will monitor the election results and provide a post-election update with the key findings and implications for public health.
FY2025 Appropriations
Congress is on recess until November 12, temporarily pausing efforts to advance the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY2025) spending bills until after the general election. On September 25, lawmakers passed a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) (H.R.9747) that temporarily extends FY2024 funding levels through December 20. The stopgap funding measure averted a government shutdown on the October 1 start of FY2025 and buys appropriators more time to reach a deal on the spending package while avoiding the larger backdrop of the election. President Biden signed the CR on September 26.
NASTAD will continue to monitor the congressional appropriations process and advocate for the highest possible funding for HIV, hepatitis, and drug user health programs.
Administration Activities
CDC Awards $4.8 Million to Support Doxy PEP Implementation and HIV/Syphilis Point-of-Care Testing
On October 25, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that it awarded $4.8 million to support the implementation of doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis (doxy PEP) and HIV and syphilis point-of-care testing. The funding, provided by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Minority HIV/AIDS Fund, will be used to design and test strategies to assure doxy PEP coverage for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men and transgender women, and study the impact and feasibility of syphilis/HIV point-of-care testing among cisgender women of reproductive age. Project activities will target key jurisdictions that were prioritized by the National Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis Syndemic (NSCSS) Federal Task Force and the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative.
Resources
HHS OIDP Webinar: Financing Integrated Viral Hepatitis Services: Recommendations for State and Federal Entities
Date: November 6, 2024, from 3:30 pm-5:00 pm EST
“The Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) invites you to participate in a webinar on November 6, 2024, from 3:30 pm-5:00 pm EST. This webinar will introduce, Financing Integrated Viral Hepatitis Services: Recommendations for State and Federal Entities, an upcoming report sharing recommendations for viral hepatitis financing models that can optimize service provision in clinical and non-clinical settings. These recommendations reflect over two years of research as well as robust discussions with community, state, and federal partners on payment and reimbursement strategies to support viral hepatitis service provision. The webinar will include presentations on innovative models featured in the report being implemented in several states.”
Webinar: Data Transformation for Storytelling
Date: Wednesday, November 13 from 2 pm – 3 pm ET
“Join the Integrating HIV Innovative Practices (IHIP) Team for the last session of our 3-session webinar series which covers the lifecycle of marketing and promoting an intervention, from intervention recruitment through dissemination of results. We are excited to share with you the latest methods and strategies to create and disseminate implementation tools and resources to support the uptake and replication of innovative HIV interventions like yours, by other organizations.”
Date: Tuesday, November 19th | 4:30-6pm EST
Drug Policy Alliance, AIDS United, National Harm Reduction Coalition, NASTAD, Black Harm Reduction Network, and Human Impact Partners will host a webinar exploring the root causes of racial and ethnic disparities in the overdose crisis and offer racially and culturally specific solutions. This event will offer a counterstory to the racial impacts of the overdose crisis and show why an accurate understanding of race and overdose is crucial to save lives.
Job Postings
Supervisory Public Health Analyst: Policy Branch Chief – HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau
The HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) Division of Policy and Data (DPD) serves as the Bureau’s principal source of RWHAP program data collection and analysis, development of policy guidance, advancement of implementation science, and analyses of data for reports for dissemination, coordination of program and clinical performance activities, and technical assistance and training internally and externally. The Supervisory Public Health Analyst – Policy Branch Chief serves as the Branch Chief and expert advisor and resource to HAB in developing and formulating policies and regulations that are sensitive to the special needs and concerns of safety net providers and beneficiaries. Apply by November 15, 2024.
Senior Policy Advisor, Bureau of Hepatitis, HIV, and STI – Queens, New York
The NYC Health Department’s Bureau of Hepatitis, HIV, and Sexually Transmitted Infections (BHHS) Policy and External Affairs Program seeks a Senior Policy Advisor to lead its health systems policy efforts and support its HIV, STI, and viral hepatitis policy advocacy more broadly. The Senior Policy Advisor will report to the Director of Policy and External Affairs and oversee BHHS’s health systems policy efforts, including monitoring, researching, and responding to Medicaid, Medicare, 340B program, Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, New York State of Health Marketplace, New York City HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA), patient assistance programs, and commercial health insurance activity relevant to New Yorkers affected by HIV, STIs, and viral hepatitis.
Communicable Disease Epidemiologist – Cheyenne, Wyoming
This position will serve as the Communicable Disease AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) Coordinator, Wyoming TB Controller, and Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) for the Communicable Disease (CD) Treatment Program. Assist in outbreak response to ensure the safety of Wyoming residents; by interviewing cases for exposure information, updating news outlets on the progress of outbreak control, analyzing exposure data utilizing epidemiological and statistical methods.
Open Positions – New York State
The New York State Department of Health, in partnership with Health Research, Inc, has various job openings, including some within the AIDS Institute. Please visit this link to learn about their current opportunities.
News Bulletin
$4.7M Grant to Combat Smoking and HIV in Black Adults
“Can a mobile health app help Black adults living with HIV quit smoking and manage their stress? Scientists from the University of Houston (UH) Health Research Institute are using a $4.7 million grant to test just such an app, according to a UH news release. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities grant will support a randomized control trial with more than 300 Black smokers with HIV to test the benefits of a mobile health app developed to help users quit smoking and better manage their stress and chronic diseases.”
Everyone’s tough on drugs again
“Troubled by drug use, homelessness and crime, voters even in the country’s most progressive states favor cracking down. Politicians from Trump and Harris on down the ballot say they will… That view worries public health experts and treatment advocates, who see a backsliding toward the law enforcement focus that once looked futile in the face of Americans’ insatiable appetite for drugs. They fear it bodes ill for additional efforts from Washington to expand addiction care.”
Trump says he’ll let RFK Jr. ‘go wild’ on health and food in potential second term
“Former President Trump said Sunday that he would let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “go wild” in dealing with issues related to food, medicine and health in a potential second administration… Kennedy, who has led an initiative for the Trump campaign dubbed “Make America Healthy Again,” has long drawn criticism for his anti-vaccine comments. He has spoken about the proliferation of processed foods and additives, and he has worked as an environmental lawyer. Medical experts have raised concerns about Kennedy’s potential influence in a future Trump administration.”