HHS appropriations were packaged together in a minibus with three other primary federal agencies: the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Education (Ed). Following, is a breakdown of key HHS funding lines that specifically target addressing the opioid epidemic, as well as implications for potential grant programs. Information was gathered directly from the minibus agreement (H.R. 6157), the accompanying conference report (115-952), and historical information about the funding sources and the grant programs that they fund.

Telemedicine enables health care providers the ability to return to their roots. By leveraging video conferencing, these providers can provide primary and specialty therapeutic services to patients and areas of the country that lack medical resources. Fortunately, telemedicine is a prime example of a technology that enables health care access directly, making such initiatives very fundable through grants. 

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 includes modest to significant increases across the board, increasing defense allocations by $26 billion and non-defense domestic appropriations by $33 billion. In total, Congress passed a budget that essentially rolls back the draconian cuts that were instituted in 2013 - known as sequestration - surpassing the administration’s request by $143 billion.

One thing that plagues the healthcare industry is an overabundance of acronyms and terms that can leave the heads of the uninitiated spinning.