Letter to the Hon. Sonny Perdue, Secretary of Agriculture, and the Hon. Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services - U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig Press Top Administration Officials to Quickly Implement New Effort to Improve Health Care in Rural America

Letter

Dear Secretary Perdue and Azar,

We write to request an update on an important provision in the 2018 Farm Bill (P.L.115-334). Specifically, Sec. 12409, which contained the text of the bipartisan Rural Health Liaison Act of 2018 and established a Rural Health Liaison position within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

As you may be aware, the House recently included report language and additional funding to prioritize the establishment of the Rural Health Liaison during consideration of H.R.2740, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Defense, State, Foreign Operations, and Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2020.

This new program will be critical to rural areas, which have historically lacked access to adequate health care -- and the disparity is getting worse. In fact, 94 rural hospitals have closed since 2010, and another 700 are at risk of closure. As such, we encourage your agencies to finalize the establishment of this position in a timely manner so that we can promptly begin fulfilling the liaison's directive of addressing the specific health care needs of rural communities, including narrowing the gap that exists between rural areas and other regions when it comes to receiving quality health care.

It is vital that we address these gaps and continue to address the rural shortage of hospitals, medical professionals, mental health services, and other health care resources to ensure that every family can access the health care they need.

As members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, we have made it a priority to partner with rural communities to improve access to health care, broadband, and housing to improve quality of life for those who live there. The USDA Rural Health Liaison position is a valuable tool to support one part of this effort, and we look forward to receiving an update on the progress of implementation of this program.

Sincerely,

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