On December 8-9, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) held a virtual public meeting at which it considered a series of draft payment update recommendations to Medicare payment systems in 2024 for inclusion in its March 2023 Report to Congress.   The Commission expressed support for 2024 draft payment recommendations to increase payments to acute care hospitals and providers and… (Testa, LaRosa, McClurg, Colocho, December 9, 2022) #Costs, #Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH), #Home Health, #Hospice, #Hospitals, #Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities, #Physicians, #Program Integrity, #Quality, #Skilled Nursing Facilities

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) convened a session on Medicaid coverage drug coverage based on Medicare National Coverage Determinations (NCDs). Principal Analyst Chris Park offered the following policy recommendation for Commissioner consideration: Congress should amend § 1927(d)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act to allow states to exclude or otherwise restrict coverage of a covered outpatient drug… (Slifer, December 8, 2022) #Coverage Decisions, #Prescription Drugs

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR), HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) jointly created an updated tool to help health app developers learn about federal regulations that apply to their software. The tool is intended to help developers… (McClurg, December 8, 2022) #Health Information Technology, #Privacy

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a proposed rule to establish a new annual reporting requirement for investigational new drug applications (INDs), known as the FDA development safety update report (DSUR).  Additional details of the proposed rule follow: The FDA asserts that the proposed FDA DSUR would require these sponsors to provide an annual report that is more comprehensive… (Slifer, December 8, 2022) #Food and Drug Administration, #Prescription Drugs

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) announced $60.58 million in funding for round two Reach and Resiliency grants in The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). The funding will be used by state TEFAP agencies to better serve individuals in remote, rural, tribal, and other low-income areas through creative and unique solutions like mobile food pantries and… (McClurg, December 7, 2022) #Health Equity, #Nutrition

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule to improve the electronic exchange of health care data and streamline prior authorization (press release; fact sheet).  The regulations apply to Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations, Medicaid and CHIP fee-for-service (FFS) programs, Medicaid managed care plans, CHIP managed care entities, and Qualified Health Plan (QHP) issuers on the Federally… (McClurg, December 6, 2022) #Health Information Technology

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released the Semiannual Report to Congress providing an overview of the Agency’s activities from March 2022 through September 2022. The report includes data on OIG’s reports, audits, investigations, and other statistics. The report describes OIG’s work on identifying significant problems, abuses, deficiencies, remedies, and investigative outcomes… (Colocho, December 6, 2022) #Costs, #COVID-19, #Drug Pricing, #Hospitals, #Opioids, #Public Health

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a new virtual Agricultural Science Center of Excellence for Nutrition and Diet for Better Health (ASCEND for Better Health) that will accelerate research on diet-related chronic diseases. The new center will connect existing resources, people, and programs to increase coordination and cooperation in research. USDA will also focus on better understanding the needs of… (McClurg, December 5, 2022) #Chronic Diseases, #Health Equity, #Nutrition

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) extended enforcement discretion, pending future rulemaking, for the requirement that convening providers and facilities provide good faith estimates (GFEs) for uninsured (or self-pay) individuals of expected charges from co-providers and co-facilities. The enforcement discretion was set to expire on December 31, 2022. We anticipate that a forthcoming proposed rule, scheduled for January… (Llamas, December 5, 2022) #Insurance Reform, #Transparency

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Quality, Safety & Oversight memo on workplace violence in hospitals. The memo reiterated the regulatory obligation Medicare certified hospitals have under the Medicare Hospital Conditions of Participation (CoP) (§482.13(c)(2)), including the Medicare Hospital Emergency Preparedness CoP (§482.15(a)). Briefly, the agency highlights the following expectations:   Adhere to current standards of… (Testa, November 28, 2022) #Hospitals, #Program Integrity