Billy Wynne

Commission Presents Status Report on Ambulatory Surgical Centers; Commissioners Reiterate Recommendation to Require ASCs Submit Cost Data The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) convened a session to provide a status report on ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) supply, volume of services provided to beneficiaries, and Medicare spending. Principal Policy Analyst Daniel Zabinski presented the current landscape of ASCs, highlighting the prevalence…

Commissioners Express Concern About Excess Payments to MA Plans and Support Moving Towards Less Plan Offerings  The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) convened two sessions on Medicare Advantage (MA), including a status report on the program and policy recommendations for standardized benefits. In examining the MA program and the Commission’s recent analyses, staff highlighted the…

Lowering Costs and Increasing Access to Health Care with Employer-Driven Innovation The House Committee on Education and Workforce (Ed & Workforce) Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) convened a hearing that sets the stage for the Committee to further tackle high health care costs in the commercial sector. Democrats and Republicans agree that…

Commissioners Approve Medicare Payment Adequacy and Update Recommendations for 2025 On January 11, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) held a public meeting at which it considered a series of payment update recommendations to Medicare payment systems in 2025 for inclusion in its March 2024 Report to Congress. These sessions continued conversations from the Commission’s December meeting…

Department Announces Maternal Health Grant Opportunity; Applications Due April 2 The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced a notice of funding opportunity under the State Maternal Health Innovation (State MIH) program (HRSA-24-047).   Purpose. The purpose of the State MIH program is to reduce maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity (SMM) by enhancing access…

Task Force on Maternal Mental Health Issues Questions for Public Comment, Responses Due January 31 The Task Force on Maternal Mental Health, a subcommittee under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Advisory Committee for Women’s Services (ACWS), is soliciting public input on a series of questions related to the prevention and treatment…

Nominations for MedPAC Commissioners Due February 9 The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a request for letters of nomination and resumes for the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). MedPAC is an independent congressional agency that advises Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program. MedPAC is made up of 17 commissioners with expertise in health care delivery and financing. The…

Agency Approves Florida Prescription Drug Importation Program Proposal Today, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Florida’s Section 804 Importation Program (SIP) application, which will allow the state to import certain prescription drugs from Canada (press release). Background. In 2020, the Trump Administration issued a final rule that would allows states and Indian Tribes to import…

CMS Releases Summaries of States’ Activities to Strengthen Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released summaries of state spending plans related to section 9817 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP). Section 9817 provides a temporary 10 percentage point increase to the federal medical assistance percentage…

Report Describes Agency Oversight of Medical Device Cybersecurity The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on the cybersecurity of medical devices as directed by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. In this report, GAO examines the extent to which relevant non-federal entities are facing challenges in accessing federal support for medical device cybersecurity, how…