The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee convened a markup of four bipartisan bills on addressing substance use disorder, early detection in cancer screening, and high-quality educational research. This included reauthorizing major provisions of the SUPPORT Act which expired at the end of September. Members of both parties were largely united in advancing all legislation before the Committee… (Marceno, December 12, 2023) #Opioids, #Prevention, #Public Health, #Women’s Health, #Workforce

The House of Representatives passed the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act by a vote of 320-71. The legislation features the following provisions: Increasing transparency of hospital prices, clinical diagnostic laboratory test prices, imaging prices, ambulatory surgical center prices, health coverage prices, and pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) practices; Parity in Medicare payments for hospital outpatient department services furnished off-campus; Prohibiting spread… (Slifer, December 12, 2023) #Clinical Labs, #Community Health Centers, #Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH), #Graduate Medical Education (GME), #Hospitals, #Pharmacy Benefit Managers, #Transparency

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released a report on competition in prescription drug markets from 2017 to 2022. ASPE notes that President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy identified a lack of competition as a key driver for problems across the economic sector. This… (McClurg, December 11, 2023) #Drug Pricing, #Generic Drugs

On December 7-8, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) held a public meeting at which it considered a series of draft payment update recommendations to Medicare payment systems in 2025 for inclusion in its March 2024 Report to Congress.   The Commission expressed support for 2025 draft payment recommendations to increase payments to acute care hospitals and providers and to… (Llamas, Testa, Marceno, McClurg, December 8, 2023) #Hospitals, #Physicians, #Post-Acute Care, #Skilled Nursing Facilities

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reported that as of earlier this week, nearly 7.3 million individuals have enrolled in health insurance through the Marketplaces since open enrollment began on November 1, 2023. Highlights are as follows: 5 million individuals have enrolled in plans through the nationwide platform, HealthCare.gov; 775k individuals have enrolled through State-based Marketplaces in 18 states and D.C.;… (Joyce, December 8, 2023) #Affordable Care Act, #Health Insurance Exchanges

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a comprehensive strategy aimed at fortifying cybersecurity measures within the health care sector. This initiative is a response to the escalating cyber threats faced by hospitals, patients, and communities and builds upon President Biden’s National Cybersecurity Strategy, which focuses on enhancing resilience against cyber-attacks and safeguarding patient safety (Impact Health summary)…. (Colocho, December 7, 2023) #Health Information Technology, #Hospitals, #Privacy

The House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee convened a Full Committee markup to consider 44 pieces of legislation, including 21 health-related bills on Medicare Part D and pharmacy benefit managers, national coverage determination, Medicare Part B, Medicare Advantage, health care, Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Provider Reimbursement, and Parkinson’s disease. E&C also considered bills related to housing and the gig… (Colocho, December 7, 2023) #Biosimilars, #Cost-Sharing, #Coverage Decisions, #Medicare Part D, #Mental and Behavioral Health, #Pharmacy Benefit Managers, #Physicians

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) announced that it has teamed up with the Food Research & Action Coalition (FRAC) to award five competitive grants for a total of $1.1 million to research and barriers to equitable access in federal child nutrition programs.In the announcement, USDA highlights that a significant number of eligible children are either… (McClurg, December 6, 2023) #Nutrition

In recent years, key mental health indicators across the country have been declining, particularly among youth. Policymakers continue to be concerned with the ability of the healthcare system to meet the demand of increasing substance use and mental health challenges. In August, Impact Health shared a policy update to provide an overview of the legislative updates, comment opportunities, recent data, and programmatic… (Marceno, December 5, 2023) #Mental and Behavioral Health, #Opioids, #Prevention

Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released an interim final rule with a comment period regarding the unwinding of continuous coverage requirements. The interim final rule outlines CMS’ enforcement of states’ compliance with reporting requirements and renewal requirements during the period that begins on July 1, 2023 and ends on June 30, 2024. In the rule, CMS… (Marceno, December 4, 2023) #Coverage Decisions, #COVID-19, #Insurance Coverage