Representatives Crow, Waltz Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Relieve Overload Burdened Healthcare Professionals During COVID-19

Currently Half of Health Workers Report Burnout Amid COVID-19 as Colorado COVID Hospitalizations Reach Highest Point Since January

WASHINGTON -- Representatives Jason Crow (D-CO-06) and Mike Waltz (R-FL-06) joined in reintroducing legislation that will help reduce the burden on healthcare professionals as our hospitals remain overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Temporary Responders for Immediate Aid in Grave Emergencies (TRIAGE) Act would provide a path for former health care workers, who might have allowed their medical professional license or certifications to expire, to return to the medical field and leverage their training to help save lives during the COVID-19 public health crisis.

"While we've made great strides against the COVID-19 pandemic, our healthcare system is still being pushed to its limit. Colorado's doctors, nurses, first responders, and other health care workers are doing everything in their power to continue saving lives and they deserve all the support we can offer them. This legislation is crucial to delivering on that support. It taps into our nation's proud history of service by empowering medical professionals who recently left healthcare to re-enter and get started delivering urgently-needed care during this pandemic," said Rep. Crow.

"Healthcare workers have put themselves on the front lines of this pandemic for a year-and-half now distributing vaccinations, treating the sick, and preventing the spread of COVID-19," said Rep Waltz. "Reauthorizing this law will allow former healthcare workers to continue their service to help patients and support our already overwhelmed healthcare workers."

"The FSMB is pleased to support the TRIAGE Act of 2021, which advances efforts to ensure that qualified health care professionals are effectively mobilized during the COVID-19 pandemic and future national emergencies," said FSMB President and CEO Humayun J. Chaudhry, DO, MACP. "We remain steadfastly committed to safe and secure telehealth for patients and mobility for health professionals, and the TRIAGE Act -- offering important resources for tools such as the online Provider Bridge portal -- will help achieve both of these goals."

"The TRIAGE Act of 2021 will help to assure physician workforce capacity during this pandemic and future national emergencies," said Greg Ogrinc, MD, Senior Vice President for Certification Standards and Programs. "We are proud contributors of specialty certification data to the Provider Bridge program, which supports the mobility of qualified physicians in areas of need and which will be strengthened by the Act."

This bill will:

• Codify the Provider Bridge Program under the Health Resources and Services Administration; and
• Empower states to provide for emergency license renewals for former health care workers through a grant program open to states, territories, and tribes.

This legislation comes as COVID-19 hospitalizations in Colorado reach their highest point since Jan. 6.

According to the American Medical Association, half of health workers report burnout after the high-intensity work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

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