Vaccine Rollout, Budget Hearings Offer Opportunities for Physician Advocacy January 27, 2021
Written by MSDC Staff
The announcements by the DC Council and DC Committee on Health of hearings in the next few months offer physicians an opportunity to speak up on important healthcare issues.
Earlier this week, Committee on Health Chair Vincent Gray announced a two-day hearing on the COVID vaccine rollout strategy. In the hearing notice (see here) the committee states it will, "examine the District’s COVID-19 vaccination process, and will be conducted over a two-day period... Issues that will be discussed include: the effectiveness of the District's vaccinate.dc.gov enrollment portal and call-in number, the enrollment process, communication and outreach, and the equitable prioritization of vaccines."
Anyone interested in testifying is asked to contact the committee by January 28 at 6 PM. Any physician who wishes to testify and would like assistance from MSDC can contact Robert Hay at hay [at] msdc.org or call the MSDC hotline.
In addition, the Council announced this week its 2020-2021 Performance Oversight and 2022 Budget Hearing schedules. These hearings are opportunities for individuals and organizations to draw attention to healthcare issues that are either underfunded, unfunded, or not in the Council's awareness; or to provide comments on the performance of government agencies. Last year, MSDC Board member Laurie Duncan, MBBS, testified during the DC Health performance hearing on the importance of partnership in handling physician wellbeing. Then-President Desiree Pineda also testified in the summer on specific line items in the District budget including the Health Professionals Loan Repayment Program.
The schedule for health agencies is below:
Oversight Hearings
Friday, February 12 – 9 am - 6 pm
Health Benefit Exchange Authority/Department of Behavioral Health
Thursday, March 4 – 9 am - 6 pm
UMC/DMHHS/Department of Health Care Finance
Friday, March 19 – 9 am - 6 pm
Department of Health
Budget Hearings
Friday, April 9 – 9 am - 6 pm
UMC/DMHHS/Department of Health Care Finance
Wednesday, April 28 – 9 am - 6 pm
Department of Health
Friday, April 30 – 9 am - 6 pm
Health Benefit Exchange Authority/Department of Behavioral Health