Help Keep Our Kids Covered
Restoration of Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding is a critical issue nationwide. Federal funding for all state CHIP programs officially ran out on Sept. 30, 2017. The FY2018 government spending measure enacted into law in December includes a temporary CHIP funding fix that will fund programs until about March 31, 2018. But if a CHIP funding measure is not signed into law before the end of March 2018, states will run out of funding and CHIP programs around the country will shut down, resulting in a termination of health insurance coverage for thousands of children, including children with respiratory conditions such as asthma. CHIP insures approximately 9 million children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid.

You can help by emailing your Congress members. A phone call is also helpful. Contact the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your senator or representative. Please help urge them to pass a CHIP funding restoration measure.

CDC Issues Flu Treatment Advisory
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week recommended treating all hospitalized, severely ill and high-risk patients who have suspected or confirmed influenza with antiviral medications as soon as possible. H3N2 A viruses are predominating this flu season, and in past seasons, have been associated with more hospitalizations and deaths in older adults and young children.

Upcoming ATS Journal Clubs and Live Webinars

• Assembly on Critical Care: "Age of Red Cells for Transfusion and Outcomes in Critically Ill Adults" at 11:30 a.m. ET, Tuesday, Jan. 16. RSVP now.
• Assembly on Behavioral Sciences and Health Services Research: "Mining for Gold: Getting Started in Qualitative Research" at 1 p.m. ET, Thursday, Jan. 25. Reserve your seat today.
• Assembly of Pulmonary Rehabilitation: "A Randomized Trial of Long-Term Oxygen for COPD With Moderate Desaturation" at noon ET, Tuesday, Jan. 30. RSVP today.
• Clinical Practice Committee: "Coding and Billing Educational Webinar" at 4 p.m. ET, Tuesday, Jan. 30. RSVP today.

Deadline Approaching: Late-Breaking Abstracts
We are still accepting recent, groundbreaking research advanced with major impact to the fields of pulmonary, critical care, or sleep medicine. Abstracts can report on any of the following: 

• Basic, translational, and clinical science research.
• Epidemiologic, social, biobehavioral, and psychosocial investigations.
• Education and quality improvement projects.