Senator Murray Announces Over $4.6 Million for Washington State Department of Health, WA Hospitals

The funding goes towards the Hospital Preparedness Program, the primary source of funding for local health care systems

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $4.67 million in funding for thousands of health care systems in Washington state. Murray secured the funding as Appropriations Chair in this year's spending package for the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) through the Department of Health and Human Services. The Hospital Preparedness Program provides funding to local health care systems and helps them respond to large-scale emergencies and disasters. As the primary source of federal funding for health care system preparedness and response, HPP improves patient outcomes, minimizes the need for federal and supplemental state resources during large-scale emergencies, and enables rapid recovery.

"The better funded and prepared our health care systems are, the more lives we can save when a crisis hits," said Senator Murray. "The funding I secured as Chair of the Appropriations Committee for the Hospital Preparedness Program is critical in supporting hospitals across the state and the entire country. They are the front lines of defense when preparing for and fighting disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and more. Ensuring our hospitals have the medical equipment and supplies, communication systems, and trained personnel in the event of an emergency is of the utmost importance. To me this is simple: every dollar we invest in hospital preparedness saves money, and more importantly lives, in the long run."

Senator Murray has long been a champion of public health and has played a major role in securing federal investments to strengthen and expand the country's public health infrastructure. As the former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Senator Murray introduced the Public Health Infrastructure Saves Lives (PHISLA) Act in 2020, which would establish $4.5 billion in dedicated, annual funding for a grant program to build up and maintain the nation's public health system across the board. Murray reintroduced the legislation in 2021 and secured the inclusion of provisions from the bill-including the creation of the Public Health Infrastructure Grant Program-in the American Rescue Plan Act that was signed into law in March 2021. In 2023, Murray reintroduced PHILSA, and spoke on the Senate floor and held a press conference about the need for robust public health investments. As Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Murray secured $350 million to support public health infrastructure and capacity in this year's spending package, including $240 million for HPP, which maintained the 75% increase secured in fiscal year 2023 to strengthen public health infrastructure and the public health workforce at the state and local level to improve preparedness and respond to emerging public health threats.

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