Billy Wynne

Administration Officials Describe Clean Vehicle and Energy Efficient Building Tax Credits The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE) held a presentation to discuss the Office’s Catalytic Program on Utilizing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The catalytic program is intended to support health care providers in taking advantage of the…

President Biden’s Third State of the Union In his third State of the Union address, President Biden highlighted some of his health policy proposals for the upcoming year. His speech focused on efforts to lower prescription drug costs in Medicare and private health insurance and make permanent expanded premium tax credits for Marketplace coverage. Biden…

Manufacturer RFA Applications Due May 1 for Cell and Gene Therapy Access Model the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) released a request for applications (RFA) for the Cell and Gene Therapy Access Model. Eligible manufacturers include those that have a gene therapy approved or licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for…

Senators Discuss How to Support Primary Care to Reduce Health Care Spending The Senate Budget Committee convened a hearing to discuss how primary care can make the health care system more efficient. Senators spoke about the importance of individuals having strong relationships with their primary care providers. Senators and witnesses generally agreed that physician payment should be “rebalanced”…

Department Announces Actions to Help Providers Navigate Billing Problems Following Cyber Attack on Change Healthcare; CMS to Allow Providers Submit Accelerated Payment Requests to MACs for Individual Consideration The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a statement recognizing the impact on health care operations of the cybersecurity incident affecting Change Healthcare, a unit…

Agencies Issue RFI on Health Care Consolidation, Comments due May 6th Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) jointly issued a request for information (RFI) to inform the agencies’ identification of enforcement priorities and future actions, including new regulations,…

Department Issues Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Limiting Data Transfers to Countries of Concern; Comments Due April 19 The National Security Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) in response to the Executive Order of February 28, 2024, titled “Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal…

Government Accountability Office (GAO) Recommends Changes to Head Start Program Funding to Align with Community’s Child Poverty Rates The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report examining opportunities for the Head Start Program to modify its resource allocation to better meet community needs as reflected by a community’s child poverty rate. This study found that Head Start availability…

House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health Discuss Legislative Proposals to Support Patients with Rare Diseases The House Energy & Commerce (E&C) Health Subcommittee convened a legislative hearing to examine 18 bills aimed at improving patient access to treatments for rare diseases (hearing memo) – including legislation affecting the drug approval process at the Food…

USDA Equity Commission Releases Final Report With Recommendations The Department of Agriculture (USDA) convened its inaugural National Equity Summit to announce and publish the USDA Equity Commission’s final report. The Equity Commission has been working on the report since February 2022 to provide a set of actionable recommendations to modify programs, policies, practices, culture, systems, and structures…