A new health-related trade association is born in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on the mammoth 2010 health care reform law.
Healthcare facilities and lenders have formed the Coalition for Healthcare Finance (CHF) and CHFPAC, a new bi-partisan trade association and political action committee to support federal programs that enhance capital access.
"There are several trade groups in Washington that deal with healthcare, but none has CHF's singular focus on credit access," says CHF board member Frank Romano.
Romano is also a board member for the American Health Care Association and owns and operates several healthcare facilities in Massachusetts. Romano has made contributions through Essex Group Management Corp., Rowley, Mass., to mainly Democratic candidates for Congress, as well as Rep. Olympia Snowe, the Maine Republican, according to Campaignmoney.com's database.
The organization has begun its advocacy efforts and has provided formal comments on Federal Housing Administration (FHA) plans to charge higher fees for financing and to impose new regulations on operators of long-term care (LTC) facilities.
The group is focusing its effort on FHA, which provides mortgage insurance for skilled nursing, assisted living and memory care facilities. Both programs are "negative credit subsidy," meaning they do not require taxpayer funds to operate.
"To say we've hit the ground running would be an understatement," says CHF Chairman Brian Reynolds. "This is an election year and Congress is looking critically at many federal programs.
