House Gears Up For Health Care Action

Oleh Admin 13 Feb, 2024 Posting Komentar

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This Week on the Hill - The Senate is focused on more funding this week, but there are still health measures that need to be considered in the House.

More hearings will be held as Congress approaches its March 1 deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown. The final spending package sets funding deadlines of March 1 for the FDA and VA programs and March 8 for the Department of Health and Human Services.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will meet Wednesday for a legislative hearing on the Patient and Healthcare Provider Support Act.

All bills under discussion are bipartisan and could affect spending laws.

Numerous bills support programs, including legislation to address healthcare worker burnout, continue traumatic brain injury programs, expand rural emergency medical services, and expand the National Alzheimer's Disease Project.

Another bill introduced by E&C Committee Chairs Kathy McMorris Rogers (R-Wash.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colorado) would increase funding for Down syndrome research. Rogers, who announced Thursday that he will not run for re-election, has a personal connection to the issue: His son has Down syndrome.

The House Budget Committee is scheduled to hear the Congressional Budget Office's "Fiscal and Economic Outlook" on Wednesday. Central Bank of Oman director Philip Swagel is expected to testify.

Last week, the committee unanimously approved the Congressional Budget Office's proposal to reform the preventive care allocation system.

The House Subcommittee on the Corona Virus Pandemic will examine the effectiveness of the vaccine injury compensation and vaccine safety report on Thursday.

Biden administration officials, including Dr. Peter Mark of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, testified.

In a statement, Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) said, “There is concern that these systems may not adequately inform the American public about vaccine harm messages and may contribute to a decline in public confidence in the safety of vaccines. vaccines".

A House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee meeting is scheduled for Thursday to discuss the agency's faltering efforts to modernize electronic health records, with a particular focus on pharmacy monitoring. Prescription problems have complicated distribution of the drug, and the high cost has led to the deaths of many veterans.

Another Veterans Affairs subcommittee will meet later in the day to examine how artificial intelligence is used at the Department of Veterans Affairs and how it might be used in the future.

Welcome to Pulse Tuesday. Taylor Swift is now changing the healthcare system. The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene had to postpone its meeting in New Orleans because its speech was taking place at the same time. Contact us at [email protected] or [email protected] . Follow @_BenLeonard_ and @ChelseaCirruzzo.

Everything related to agencies

'Shock': Research changes spark panic - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Monday that it will change its research protocols.

Due to data breaches and growing security concerns, CMS no longer sends physical copies of transcripts to researchers. Instead, researchers are directed to a virtual hub where they access the data, excluding representatives from federal and state agencies.

The agency says the website improves efficiency and is more cost-effective than sending physical copies. However, many scientists have expressed concern that this could lead to high costs for researchers and hinder timely, high-quality analyses. CMS data on millions of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries are often used in health policy research.

The move is “shocking,” Adam Sakarni, assistant professor of health policy at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, told Pulse. He said the cost of extracting physical and digital data varies greatly depending on the project.

"For some projects it's great. For some projects it's not explained because it's too expensive."

William Spiro, assistant professor of health policy at Cornell University's Weill Medical College, told Pulse that the move is "throwing the baby out with the bathwater."

“While we understand the security concerns, we need an agreement that more effectively addresses security and access,” Shapiro said. He said the move could disproportionately affect low-income students and institutions.

CMS did not respond to a request for comment.

What's Next: Policy changes that will halt the actual distribution of new studios will begin on August 19th. Those who previously approved the document will continue to have access to the hard data, but will not be able to expand it to include new types of data.

The agency is accepting comments on next steps until March 29.

Private equity

First on the pulse: growth of private capital - Private equity investments in the healthcare industry are on the rise, according to a new report from the U.S. Investment Council.

According to the report, which used ten-year market data from Pitchbook, healthcare-focused funds attracted $15.1 billion in private equity investments through Aug. 30, 2023, up from more than $10 billion a year earlier . According to the AIC, the health fund manages about $73 billion in total.

In a report from the private equity lobbying firm, first obtained by Pulse, the group says private equity can make the healthcare system more efficient.

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“All the capital goes to hospital systems, outpatient clinics, pharmaceutical companies, medical device innovators, and dozens of other life-saving and cost-cutting initiatives,” the group wrote.

Zoom : The report comes as lawmakers and government agencies on Capitol Hill increasingly target private equity firms for their involvement in the healthcare industry.

CMS has taken steps to increase private ownership of nursing homes amid concerns about the quality of care. House Appropriations Committee member Richard Neal (D-Mass.) called for private investment reporting requirements to be included in the CTA.

The AIC has previously argued at the CMS that private investments are being unfairly targeted.

Digital health

TEFCA is getting stronger - HHS has added two more organizations to the Trusted Exchange Framework and Consensus Data Exchange Initiative: Commonwealth Health Alliance and Kno2.

The Office of the Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced that it has identified the two companies as qualified health information networks and has decided to begin supporting information sharing based on an early and comprehensive agreement. The goal of this initiative is to facilitate the exchange of patient information through a national network of connections between providers, public health officials, researchers and other healthcare professionals.

Since one of the largest electronic health record providers, Oracle Cerner, is a founding member of the Commonwealth Health Alliance, this is a plus for the relationship.

Companies join giant electronic health record saga; Health Information Network, eHealth Exchange; Gorilla Health Consensus Forum; CONZA, a non-profit organization that supports the exchange of health information; MedAllies, a health IT company launched in December, participated in the project.

Congress began this process in 2016.

Next steps: QHIN intends to adopt a new version of the framework agreement in the first quarter of this year.

Medicare Advantage

Impact of MA Rules - Medicare Advantage insurers will face "profit pressure" under new rules from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to a new report from analytics firm Capstone.

These changes require Medicare Advantage plans to cover all services covered by traditional Medicare, be subject to state and local coverage regulations, and strengthen prior authorization requirements. Recent critics say it is an attempt to eliminate a popular tool used to delay or deny patients access to medical care.

Grace's Totman and David Mohler wrote, "The battle among hospital groups seeking to take advantage of the new coverage policies will likely continue, and MA plans to develop a policy that meets the new coverage requirements."

They said they expect the first significant analysis of "margin pressure" in April using first-quarter financial results.

In a statement, the insurer advocacy group Better Medicare Alliance praised CMS' "role in modernizing the prior authorization process" in response to the previous authorization rule.

Names in the news

Doctor. Robin Neblet Fanfare has been selected to lead the HIV prevention division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . In the agency since 2010.

Doctor. Teresa M. was elected. Meskimen Rivera is the president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association. He is currently head of the Department of Psychiatry at Hunterdon Medical Center.