Congress Must Prioritize Policy that Improves Health

Trinity Health congratulates members of the 118th Congress on their election and encourages prioritization of policy that will advance equitable health for individuals and communities.

Trinity Health’s mission is to serve together in the spirit of the Gospel as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities. We recognize our role as a change-agent and take seriously our commitment to advocate on behalf of those we serve while offering a trusted health policy voice.

Trinity Health believes:

• Improving the health of communities requires bridging clinical and social care with greater engagement from health systems.
• Affordable, high-value health care is achievable when providers assume responsibility for total cost of care and health outcomes.
• Safety is a shared value that is advanced as health systems invest in their workforce and transform care delivery models.

Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly hard to live our mission, because:

• The majority of health systems are operating in the red because Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement is not reflective of the cost to deliver care.
• We are in the midst of a health care workforce shortage that is at crisis level and can’t be resolved by simply moving workers around.
• Barriers to access still exist, and health disparities are deeply rooted.
• Expansion of new payment models that create provider accountability, improve efficiency, and lower out-of-pocket spend have been slow to scale.

Trinity Health welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with the 118th Congress to address these challenges. Policy solutions include:

• Reform insurer practices that impede patient care.
• Improve Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.
• Grow the health care workforce pipeline.
• Expand workforce training and apprenticeship opportunities.
• Address violence against health care workers.
• Advance virtual care and other new care models.
• Invest in preparedness coordination.
• Accelerate value and total cost of care models.