Think New Mexico urges lawmakers to pass the interstate health care worker compacts during the special session!
Governor Lujan Grisham called a special legislative session that will convene on Wednesday, October 1.
Joining the interstate compacts for health care workers is the most impactful step that lawmakers can take to immediately expand the supply of health care providers available to New Mexicans, including via telehealth.
Passing the interstate compacts during the special session could also be worth millions of dollars for New Mexico’s rural hospitals.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services just released the application form that states will use to request funding from the $50 billion fund for rural hospitals that was included in the federal budget bill. The application for those federal funds awards more points to states that participate in the interstate health care worker compacts.
This means that New Mexico’s failure to participate in most of the compacts puts us at a disadvantage to other states in applying for those federal dollars!
The scoring system specifically awards additional points to states that participate in the compacts for physicians, physician assistants, emergency medical personal, nurses, and psychologists, because joining those compacts “increases the supply of accessible rural health providers [and] also increases the reach and effectiveness of telehealth in enhancing rural access.”
The deadline to apply for this one-time funding is early November, with the money awarded by the end of the year. So if lawmakers wait until the regular legislative session next January to join the compacts, it will be too late, and New Mexico’s rural hospitals may lose out on millions of dollars.
But if lawmakers pass the compacts during the special session that starts October 1, we can make it in under the deadline and maximize New Mexico’s chances of receiving urgently needed funding for our rural hospitals – while also increasing access to health care providers for all New Mexicans.
