Envision Healthcare Welcomes Key House Committee Approval of Bipartisan Clinician Well-Being Legislation

Envision Healthcare, a leading national medical group, today welcomed House Energy and Commerce Committee approval of the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act – a bipartisan bill named in honor of Dr. Lorna Breen, an emergency physician in Manhattan who died by suicide in April 2020 after caring for patients during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Passed with support from both parties, the committee’s action advances the critical effort to change the culture and conditions that lead to burnout and eliminate the stigma that deters healthcare professionals from seeking mental healthcare. The U.S. Senate unanimously approved the bill last summer.

“We must care for the healthcare providers who go above and beyond to care for our families and communities,” said Stefanie Simmons, MD, FACEP, Vice President of Patient and Clinician Engagement at Envision Healthcare. “Our clinicians have always deserved our support, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear we need to positively impact the mental health of clinicians. Passage of this legislation is an important step toward enacting changes that promote and support the well-being of the healthcare professionals who take care of America.”

Specifically, the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act:

• Establishes grants for training health profession students, residents or health care professionals in evidence-informed strategies to reduce and prevent suicide, burnout, mental health conditions and substance use disorders. The grants would also help improve health care professionals’ well-being and job satisfaction.
• Seeks to identify and disseminate evidence-informed best practices for reducing and preventing suicide and burnout among health care professionals, training health care professionals in appropriate strategies, and promoting their mental and behavioral health and job satisfaction.
• Establishes a national evidence-based education and awareness campaign targeting health care professionals to encourage them to seek support and treatment for mental and behavioral health concerns.
• Establishes grants for employee education, peer-support programming, and mental and behavioral health treatment; health care providers in current or former COVID-19 hotspots will be prioritized.
• Establishes a comprehensive study on health care professional mental and behavioral health and burnout, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on such professionals’ health.

Healthcare providers go through years of intensive training, incur significant amounts of debt from school and give up time spent with their families to provide lifesaving care to their community members. Many clinicians have the added pressure of being exposed to constant trauma and managing their own emotional responses while remaining a source of calm and strength for their patients, their families and their teams. During the course of the pandemic, Envision has provided crisis peer support, implemented mental health leadership training, enhanced formal mental health services and launched peer-to-peer support groups for clinicians.

“Envision Healthcare is pleased to see strong bipartisan support for clinician health and well-being,” said Patrick Velliky, Vice President of Government Affairs at Envision Healthcare. “Advancement of the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act aligns well with our initiatives to promote clinician well-being. Providing healthcare professionals with critical resources and support is essential to helping them thrive.”

Envision encourages the U.S. House of Representatives to act quickly to pass the Act so that it can be signed into law as soon as possible.

To learn more about Envision’s commitment to professional well-being, click here.

About Envision Healthcare Corporation

Envision Healthcare Corporation is a leading national medical group that delivers physician and advanced practice provider services, primarily in the areas of emergency and hospitalist medicine, anesthesiology, radiology/teleradiology, and neonatology to more than 1,800 clinical departments in healthcare facilities in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Post-acute care is delivered through an array of clinical professionals and integrated technologies which, when combined, contribute to efficient and effective population health management strategies. As a leader in ambulatory surgical care, AMSURG holds ownership in more than 250 surgery centers in 34 states and the District of Columbia, with medical specialties ranging from gastroenterology to ophthalmology and orthopaedics. In total, the medical group offers a differentiated suite of clinical solutions on a national scale with a local understanding of our communities, creating value for health systems, payers, providers, and patients. For additional information, visit www.envisionhealth.com.

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