Billy Wynne

Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration to Continue Withholding NIH Grants; Declines a Stay in Lower Court Ruling that DEI Guidance Was Unlawful Yesterday, in National Institutes of Health v. American Public Health Association, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump Administration can continue withholding more than $780 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) research…

Agency Accepting Nominations for a Healthcare Advisory Committee to Focus on Chronic Disease, Financing, and Delivery The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the establishment of a Healthcare Advisory Committee to provide strategic recommendations directly to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet…

Agency Launches “Crushing Fraud Chili Cook-Off” AI Challenge to Tackle Medicare Fraud; Phase 1 Submissions Due Sept. 19 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the Crushing Fraud Chili Cook-Off Competition, a research challenge designed to develop explainable artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools to combat Medicare fraud. The initiative seeks…

Agency Tightens Medicaid and CHIP Oversight as Upcoming HR1 Changes Reshape Eligibility for Immigrants; Begins Rolling Out Monthly Reports Flagging Medicaid Enrollees With Unconfirmed Citizenship or Immigration Status The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new nationwide oversight initiative yesterday aimed at removing ineligible Medicaid and CHIP enrollees by ensuring all enrollees…

Department Issues RFI on State Laws with Out-Of-State Economic Impacts as Trump Administration Rescinds Biden-Era Executive Order on Competition; Comments on the RFI Due Sept. 15 The Department of Justice (DOJ), in partnership with the National Economic Council, launched an initiative to examine state laws that may significantly and negatively affect the national economy or…

President Trump Issues EO to Bolster the Strategic API Reserve Yesterday, President Trump issued an executive order (EO) entitled: “Ensuring American Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Resilience by Filling the Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) Reserve.” This EO seeks to builds on President Trump’s first term EO on combatting public health emergencies and strengthening national security by…

Agency Hosts Listening Session on Modernizing Real-Time Claims Processing & Enhancing EDI Cybersecurity The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) convened a listening session to gather industry input on two key priorities: real-time claims processing in Medicare and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) cybersecurity controls. These efforts are part of CMS’s strategy to strengthen Medicare’s…

Agency Shares WISeR FAQs Amid Concern From Democrats About the Model The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model. WISeR will implement technology-enabled prior authorization in Original Medicare for a select set of services to help providers steer beneficiaries to safer,…

Medicaid Updates: Recent Legislation, State Plan Amendment Approvals, Funding Announcements, and Pending Regulations Overview Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have both taken a range of actions recently related to Medicaid. This includes legislation to modify Medicaid changes included in the One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R. 1), a range of state plan amendment (SPA)…

President Trump Issues Executive Order to Improve Oversight of Federal Grantmaking; Would Prohibit Funding For Initiatives not Consistent with Agency Priorities and Grant Oversight to Political Appointees President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) on Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking to overhaul how federal discretionary grants are reviewed, awarded, and monitored (fact sheet). The EO…