Continuing Resolution Extends Government Funding and Health Provisions

President Joe Biden on Dec. 21, 2024, signed the American Relief Act, 2025 (H.R. 10545), a continuing resolution (CR) previously approved by the House and Senate. The CR extends government funding for all 12 spending bills - including the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill - through March 14, 2025, and includes short-term extensions of several expiring health care provisions.

The package includes a limited number of health care and public health provisions of interest to academic medicine, including a short-term extension of key COVID-era telehealth flexibilities and the Acute Hospital Care at Home Program, as well as delayed reductions to the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital program until April 1. The bill also included short-term extensions of key health care workforce programs, including the National Health Service Corps and the Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education Program, and some pandemic preparedness programs.

Prior to the passage of the bill, Congress had failed to advance a more comprehensive package, which included a wide array of health care and public health extenders [refer to Washington Highlights, Dec. 20, 2024].