U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley has long been a champion in the delivery of health care to rural Americans, and is now celebrating the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act. The bill, which passed through the senate on a 94 to 5 vote, supports effective medical treatments for chronic and terminal illnesses with the inclusion of his measures to help rural, “tweener” hospitals. It also restores the ability of small businesses to help their employees with health insurance premiums. Grassley says hospitals in Carroll, Newton, Grinnell and Spirit Lake will continue to benefit from the rural community hospital demonstration program, as well as the residents served by the 82 critical access hospitals like those in Manning, Lake City and Sac City. The Cures act will inject the views of patients into the drug approval process and accelerate the regulatory process to bring treatments and cures to the market more quickly. Modernizing clinical trials, boosting funding for mental health care, expanding opioid painkiller abuse prevention and treatment programs and encouraging the use of electronic health records systems will be ways the act strengthens and improves patient health throughout America in the 21st century. The act has already passed through the House of Representatives on a 392 to 26 vote. President Obama is expected to sign the act into law.
