UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION

Health Issues

â--�United Spinal advocacy and policy staff worked with staff from the office of Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) in support of a House sign-on letter to the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee in support of additional funding for Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems, the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, and the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center in Fiscal Year 2022. â--�United Spinal advocacy and policy staff submitted appropriations requests to House and Senate in support of additional funding for Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems, the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, and the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center in Fiscal Year 2022. â--�United Spinal advocacy and policy staff worked with chapters and advocates around the country to secure letters of support from members of Congress for United Spinals application for the National Paralysis Resource Center federal grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. Support: Increased funding for Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems; increased funding for Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS); Support: CONNECT for Health Act - S. 1512/H.R. 2903 and HOUSE: Protecting Access to Post-COVID-19 Telehealth Act - H.R. 366 and Expanded Telehealth Access Act - H.R. 2168 support expanding telehealth access beyond the pandemic. To continue efforts to achieve a more equitable culture within the biomedical research enterprise and to break down barriers to equity in the workforce, United Spinal, as a member of the Disability Rehabilitation Research Coalition, signed on to a letter to the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in response to NIHs Request for Information to Advance and Strengthen Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Biomedical Research Workforce and Advance Health Disparities and Health Equity Research (NOT-OD-21-066). To recognize that disability cuts across all demographics and almost all areas of research conducted by the NIH and should be recognized as such in its Strategic Plan, United Spinal, as a member of the Disability Rehabilitation Research Coalition (DRRC), supported the DRRCs letter on the on FY 2021-2025 NIH-Wide Strategic Plan Framework. Support telehealth expansion and improvements in the delivery of rehabilitation and access to assistive devices and assistive technology. To support federal research impacting people with disabilities, illnesses, injuries, and chronic conditions, especially those suffering from acute or long-term impacts of COVID-19, United Spinal signed onto a letter of recommendations and requests for program funding in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 to congressional appropriations leadership as a member of the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Coalition (DRRC). To expand the knowledge base around access to assistive technologies and devices (AT) and lay the groundwork for improvements in care and policy solutions to support people with limb loss and limb difference, United Spinal as a member of the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Coalition (DRRC), signed onto letters of support for legislation recently introduced by Reps. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) and Brett Guthrie (R-KY), the Access to Assistive Technology and Devices for Americans Study Act (the Triple A Study Act, H.R. 2461), urging members of Congress to cosponsor this bipartisan legislation. To advocate for people with disabilities,United Spinal supported a Disability and Rehabilitation Research Coalition letter of welcome and congratulations to Dr. Anjali Forber-Pratt, the new Director of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. To increase access to telemental health care, United Spinal as a member of the Personal Connected Health Alliance, supported letters the PCHAlliance sent endorsing the Telemental Health Care Access Act to Senator Bill Cassidy and other Senate supporters and to U.S. Representatives Doris Matsui and Bill Johnson.