March 3, 2025
The Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association (PALTmed) has recently signed onto two advocacy letters. The first letter, from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), calls for increased funding to improve the U.S. health-care system. It highlights the critical need for federally funded health services research to address the nation's health-care challenges, improve health outcomes, and tackle urgent health crises such as the opioid epidemic and rural hospital closures. The letter emphasizes AHRQ's role in funding essential health services and primary care research and calls for a minimum of $500 million in funding for AHRQ in the fiscal year 2026 appropriations legislation.
The second letter, from the Alliance of Aging Research, urges congressional leaders to oppose proposed cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), emphasizing the devastating impact on individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related diseases (ADRD) and their caregivers. The letter highlights Medicaid’s critical role in covering long-term care services not provided by Medicare, such as in-home and community-based care, and opposes additional work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries, warning that such measures would disproportionately harm vulnerable populations, increase state healthcare costs, and limit access to essential services. It also notes that many people with Alzheimer’s rely on Medicaid due to high out-of-pocket costs and lack of long-term care insurance, and that cuts would exacerbate existing shortages in home health workers and increase the burden on families and states. The letter calls on Congress to protect these programs to support aging and low-income individuals with ADRD.
Earlier, PALTmed also called on congressional leaders to address several pressing issues affecting clinicians in post-acute and long-term care (PALTC) settings. In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, PALTmed highlighted the need for Medicare payment reform, telehealth expansion, nursing home survey reform, addressing workforce challenges, expanding alternative payment models, and achieving true interoperability in health information technology. PALTmed emphasized the importance of these reforms to ensure high-quality care for vulnerable populations and expressed readiness to collaborate with Congress. Click here to read the letter.
