Dear Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Lowey:
As national health care organizations whose members are on the forefront of providing
emergency care to millions of Americans, we are writing to urge you to adequately fund
programs that are critical to enhancing our nation’s emergency care and hospital preparedness
capabilities. Further, given the public health concerns raised by the Ebola crisis, we request that
increased funding for these programs be included in the Fiscal Year 2015 Labor, Health and
Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations bill or in emergency funding
legislation.
Funding and Reauthorization of Regionalized Emergency Care Programs
The care received by Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, the infection of two nurses treating Mr.
Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, as well as the potential for additional people
becoming infected with the Ebola virus, underscores the urgent need for developing a
coordinated, regionalized approach to emergency care. It is simply not sufficient to have a
hospital-by-hospital response to public health emergencies, whether it is the spread of viral
disease or a mass casualty event.
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