OME Advocate Newsletter

AACOM endorses bicameral, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize, through 2029, the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act that funds mental health resources for healthcare professionals. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Todd Young (R-IN), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Jennifer Kiggins (R-VA), Jennifer McClellan (D-VA) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) recently introduced S. 266 and H.R.929, bills named in honor of Dr. Lorna Breen, a physician serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York who died by suicide in Spring 2020.

First enacted in March 2022 as Public Law 117-105, the original legislation, also supported by AACOM, sought to prevent suicide, burnout and mental and behavioral health conditions among healthcare professionals. The law, which expired in 2024, established education and awareness initiatives and provided $100 million in grant funding to support mental health services for healthcare professionals. AACOM actively engaged in these efforts and, in 2022, was awarded a multi-year $2.2 million grant to support resilience and well-being initiatives within the osteopathic medical education (OME) community.

Following an all-night “vote-a-rama” session, Senators voted 52-48 to advance the GOP budget blueprint, S. Con. Res. 7, that would provide $340 billion in military, immigration enforcement and energy spending. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only Republican to join all 47 Democrats in voting against the budget resolution. Senate Democrats offered numerous amendments seeking to put Republicans on record and force difficult votes on cuts to benefits programs.

On the House side, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has already stated he has no intention of taking up the Senate’s resolution. Instead, House Republican leaders plan to bring their resolution, H. Con. Res. 14, to the floor this week. The president has expressed his support for the House version, but there is still no indication that House Republican leadership can unite factions in the party to pass a single budget resolution.

The House Budget Committee's resolution has tasked the Education and Workforce Committee with identifying $330 billion in deficit reductions over the next decade, which may include caps on federal student loans and increased costs to osteopathic medical schools. AACOM has made opposition to these provisions a top priority and is engaging House and Senate members, along with partner organizations, to communicate the detrimental impact to the healthcare industry.

As part of its budget reconciliation bills, Congress is considering provisions that would harm osteopathic medical students and schools, including the elimination of the Grad PLUS Loan Program, a $200,000 cap on federal loans per borrower and the introduction of new risk-sharing payments.

Grad PLUS loans are essential for making OME accessible, allowing students to borrow up to the full cost of their education without caps. At a time when our nation faces a growing physician shortage, it is critical that we do not impose unnecessary economic barriers on future physicians.

With more than 1,500 messages sent to Congress already, the osteopathic voice is powerful! Act now to protect Grad PLUS loans, oppose federal borrowing caps and prevent harmful risk-sharing measures that could limit access to medical education.

• On February 14, 2025, the Acting Assistant Secretary for the Department of Education (ED)’s Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague letter (DCL) regarding discrimination based on race, color and national origin in K-12 and higher education.
• The letter states that its purpose is to “clarify and reaffirm the nondiscrimination obligations of schools and other entities that receive federal financial assistance from the United States Department of Education” under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution and “other relevant authorities.”
• The Department intends to take “appropriate measures to assess compliance” beginning no later than February 28, 2025.

• The DCL instructs all covered educational institutions to:
• Ensure that their policies and actions comply with existing civil rights law;
• Cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means to accomplish such ends; and
• Cease all reliance on third-party contractors, clearinghouses or aggregators that are being used by institutions to circumvent prohibited uses of race.
• Although the DCL does not itself have the force and effect of law, it signals ED’s intent to enforce relevant civil rights laws consistent with the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard, which found race-conscious admissions policies unconstitutional.
• On February 21, 2025, a Maryland federal district court entered a nationwide preliminary injunction of key aspects of the Trump Administration’s two diversity, equity and inclusion executive orders. The nationwide injunction gives institutions of higher education reprieve from the executive orders but not ED’s DCL.
• For further information and analysis, you may view the American Council on Education’s webinar and AACOM’s 2023 webinar series on race conscious admissions following the Students for Fair Admissions decision.
• AACOM will monitor enforcement of the DCL and provide resources to the OME community as needed. If you have questions or comments, please contact aacomgr@aacom.org.

• The Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) announced that the deadline for evaluating Completers’ Lists and reporting data associated with the new Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment (FVT/GE) reporting requirement has been extended until September 30, 2025. ED stated that this will be the final extension of the FVT/GE reporting deadline.
• The extension follows a letter sent by AACOM with the American Council of Education asking ED to further delay the FVT/GE reporting requirements. The deadline to report required information has been delayed several times and was set to go into effect on February 18, 2025.
• With this extension, ED does not plan to produce any FVT/GE metrics before September 2025 and will not take any enforcement or other punitive actions against institutions that have been unable to complete the reporting to date.

• On February 21, 2025, a federal judge extended the pause on a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) policy that would implement a 15 percent cap on Facilities and Administrative (F&A) reimbursements for all new and existing grants.
• F&A costs include the upkeep of laboratories, management of data security, adherence to federal safety regulations and administrative support that facilitates compliance and operational efficiency.
• The NIH policy, which the NIH estimated would save more than $4 billion each year, came amidst a flurry of executive activity that aims to shrink the federal workforce and budget, and creates a funding shortfall that universities and researchers would need to cover themselves.
• AACOM and other health professions associations issued a statement to underscore the impact of these funding restrictions on research and healthcare education. We will continue to monitor executive activity and report on how it impacts researchers at our colleges of osteopathic medicine.

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in on February 13, 2025, as the 26th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) following a Senate confirmation vote of 52–48. The vote was largely along party lines, with Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as the sole Republican voting against the nomination.
• Following the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s confirmation hearing for ED Secretary nominee Linda McMahon, the Committee voted on February 20, 2025, along party lines, to advance her to the full Senate for consideration. A date for her confirmation is yet to be set. No Republicans have made any public objections to McMahon’s nomination, so she is almost certain to be confirmed.