U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) and members of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee are gathering information with a goal of improving healthcare in America’s rural and underserved communities.
Rep. Wenstrup, who is co-chair of the committee’s Rural and Underserved Communities Health Task Force, and House Ways and Means Committee leaders on Nov. 19 released a Request for Information (RFI) that seeks comments that could help the task force find bipartisan solutions to current healthcare issues facing patients in these areas of the country.
“I want to hear from stakeholders in Ohio’s rural and underserved areas about how we can improve healthcare access and outcomes,” Rep. Wenstrup said. “I’m particularly interested in ending the crisis of rural hospital closures, expanding our healthcare workforce, encouraging new technologies to increase digital and telehealth, and examining social determinants of health.”
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) and Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-TX) urged stakeholders to provide input on priority topics that affect health status and outcomes for the task force to consider and discuss.
“The submissions we receive will support our members’ work identifying the causes of health care disparities and developing strategies to close gaps in care that exist between certain communities,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement.
The Ways and Means Committee in July established the bipartisan Rural and Underserved Communities Health Task Force to discuss the challenges of delivering healthcare and find potential bipartisan policy options to support.