Advocacy Correspondence: PA General Assembly, Extend COVID-era Flexibilities

March 22, 2022

Honorable Members
Pennsylvania General Assembly Pennsylvania
State Capitol
501 North Third Street
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Dear Honorable Members,

Representing more than 240 members statewide, The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania thanks you for your work last September to extend critical COVID-era regulatory flexibilities for health care providers.

As you well know, among other goals, the extension was designed to allow hospitals enough time to transition back toward more normalized operations and to provide the General Assembly an opportunity to assess and make permanent such flexibilities as may be beneficial to Pennsylvanians’ health care over the long term.

Last September, none of us could have predicted the emergence or impact of the Omicron variant. Hospital professionals were hit harder than ever before. They did not have even a moment throughout this winter to think about, much less take active steps to return to, pre-COVID operational requirements. They need more time, particularly in light of the strain of the current health care workforce crisis.

Likewise, the stakeholder community is still working with, and the General Assembly is still actively considering, several bills—such as HB 245, SB 705, HB 2419, and HB 2401, for example—that could make permanent certain beneficial flexibilities. This work, too, needs more time to complete.

We know that Pennsylvania’s elected leaders are currently facing significant disruption to the typical candidacy process. We empathize with the anxiety and exhaustion that these interruptions cause. Nonetheless, we respectfully urge the General Assembly to come together to extend COVID-era health care flexibilities before they expire on March 31.

Thank you for your time and consideration. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns—or if I can ever be of assistance to you, your staff, or your constituents—please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Heather Tyler
Vice President, State Legislative Advocacy

 

 

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Topics: Regulatory Advocacy, State Advocacy

Revision Date: 3/22/2022

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