Kaine bill would fund programs to prevent burnout among doctors, nurses
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine has filed legislation seeking to reauthorize funding for programs aimed at combatting burnout and improving mental health among the nation’s health care workers.
The Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, named after an emergency room doctor and Charlottesville native who died by suicide in 2020 after treating patients at a Manhattan hospital at the height of the pandemic, would provide millions of federal dollars each year for awareness campaigns and programs intended to mitigate risk factors associated with suicide.
The bill, co-sponsored by the Virginia Democrat, fellow Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island as well as Republican Sens. Todd Young of Indiana and Roger Marshall of Kansas, extends funding for these programs through 2029 and expands language in the bill to include health centers that focus on reducing the administrative burden on health care workers as potential grant recipients.
Breen, 49, was the medical director of the emergency department at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in Manhattan, according to the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Breen’s younger sister Jennifer Breen Feist and her brother-in-law Corey Feist. She died April 26, 2020, from self-inflicted injuries.
Lorna’s father, Philip Breen, described her as being “truly in the trenches of the front line” during the pandemic, according to reporting by the New York Times.
“I think that, particularly in the aftermath of COVID, there was a real understanding that we put so much on the shoulders of our health care professionals,” Kaine told The Daily Progress Wednesday. “We have to make sure that they have mental health resources that they need. But also that they can access those resources without any fear of stigma or loss of privileges or licensing or credentials.”
“It’s ultimately a culture change,” he said.
Since becoming law in 2022, funding for initiatives supported by the measure surpassed $100 million as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, including $5.6 million that was allocated to the University of Virginia, George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
As of Wednesday afternoon, all of that money hung in the air, a result of a White House Office of Management and Budget memorandum issued Monday seeking to halt funding spent on federal grants, loans and other financial assistance programs.
But just one day after a federal judge temporarily blocked the order before it could take effect, the Trump administration rescinded the order, releasing a two-line memo of its own saying that the previous memorandum “is rescinded. If you have questions about implementing the President’s Executive Orders, please contact your agency General Counsel.”
As much as $3 trillion in federal spending went to grants, loans and financial assistance programs in the 2024 fiscal year, according to the initial memo.
Earlier Wednesday, Kaine told The Daily Progress that he was concerned about the order and believes the initial directive was illegal.
“If President [Donald] Trump wants to cut programs, the right way to do it is to work with the two legislative houses, both of which are controlled by Republicans,” he said. “If he wants to cut Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, aid to schools, you know, Meals on Wheels, SNAP programs, let them come up with a budget to do it, show it to the American people; we’ll debate about it on the floor of the Senate. I will fight against a lot of what he wants to slash, but that would be the legal way to do it.”
Kaine, who along with Young, Marshall and Reed were the first to sponsor the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act in July 2020, a mere three months after her death, believes Trump issued the order because he didn’t think he could find enough support in Congress to kill the funding legally, despite having majorities in both houses.
“That shows how radical it is,” Kaine said.
Since the first memo was issued Monday, Kaine said his office has been flooded with phone calls from health care workers across Virginia, including child care providers, universities and nonprofit groups whose financial futures were in jeopardy. He says anyone who believes they will be affected by the memos can contact his office.