Legislative Priorities | Overview
Boston Children’s Hospital actively supports legislation that will help the hospital fulfill its mission to provide exceptional clinical care, research new cures, train the next generation of pediatric providers, and improve the health and well-being of children and families.
We have a special interest in, and commitment to, our community health programs, and work hard to develop and sustain systemic solutions to child health concerns. As such, staff in the Office of Government Relations work in close collaboration with city, state and federal legislators to identify and advance legislation that meets this goal. Though we support many bills and initiatives, Boston Children’s Hospital is committed to leading in the four following areas:
Health care access
Boston Children’s Hospital is committed to ensuring all children have access to quality, affordable, and geographically appropriate health care while addressing health inequities that exist across the Commonwealth. Health inequities are plausibly avoidable, systemic health differences adversely affecting economically or socially disadvantaged groups.
Boston Children’s Hospital is committed to policies that address and acknowledge the role that social determinants of health and health-related social needs play in the lives of our patients and families. Social determinants are the circumstances in which people are born, grow, live, work, play, and age that influence access to resources and opportunities that promote health and achieve health equity. Health-related social needs, such as food insecurity, housing instability, or lack of transportation, are real-time gaps in services that impede a family’s health, well-being, and safety and are associated with worse health outcomes when not addressed with targeted interventions.
Racial equity and social justice
Boston Children’s Hospital is committed to reexamining our work through the lens of racial equity, social equity, and health equity, to better understand how these frameworks impact our policy agenda. Racial equity is the creation and proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes, and actions that produce equitable power, access, opportunities, treatment and outcomes for all people, regardless of race. We will support legislation that upholds this value, integrate racial equity throughout our whole policy agenda and focus on communities most impacted by structural racism.
Behavioral health care
Boston Children’s Hospital is committed to ensuring access to high-quality behavioral health care for children across the full continuum of care. Behavioral health encompasses the promotion of social and emotional wellbeing. It includes the prevention and treatment of mental health conditions, substance use disorder, developmental and behavioral challenges, and trauma-related health conditions. We support culturally relevant and equitable models of care and the establishment of a robust pediatric behavioral health workforce. We use a comprehensive and collaborative approach across stakeholders and systems to ensure that children are able to access the right behavioral health care at the right time.