Summary
Happy Earth Day! The House is in recess this week after a Saturday session where they passed four separate bills that together make up a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan as well as new sanctions against Russia, China and Iran, a TikTok ban, and U.S. power to freeze Russian assets. While three of the bills overwhelmingly passed with bipartisan majorities, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) relied heavily on Democrats to provide the votes to allow for additional funding for Ukraine’s efforts to defend themselves against Russia as more Republicans voted against the measure than voted for it. Over the weekend Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) reiterated her plans to move on a motion to vacate Speaker Johnson in retaliation for his bringing the Ukrainian aid bill to the floor, though she did not provide specifics on timing. Meanwhile multiple Democrats have publicly stated their support for the Speaker’s decision to move the foreign aid package and pledged they would vote against any motion to vacate to avoid the House from once again slipping into leader-less chaos before the end of the Congress.
The Senate was supposed to be on recess this week, but they will come into session on Tuesday to start the process to vote on the foreign aid package. It has been bundled into a single package and is expected to move by Wednesday afternoon to allow the Senate to recess for the rest of the week.
Regulatory Update
The Biden-Harris Administration will announce two final rules today intended to “improve safety, provide support for care workers and family caregivers, and to expand access to affordable, high-quality care,” according to a White House statement. Specifically, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will release a final rule to establish minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities and establish Medicaid institutional payment transparency reporting requirements. CMS will also release a final rule intended to improve access to care and quality outcomes for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries enrolled in managed care delivery systems.
We also expect to soon seen a separate final rule intended to improve access to care and quality outcomes for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries enrolled in fee-for-service Medicaid. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its review last week. Additionally, the Administration is also expected to release the final rule that would modify the HIPAA Privacy Rule to support reproductive health care privacy. It has not yet cleared OMB review.
OMB is also reviewing the following rules:
Medicare:
- Alternative Payment Models – The proposed rule would implement a new Medicare payment model titled, Increasing Organ Transplant Access (IOTA) Model (was set for December 2023).
- Nursing Homes – The final rule would establish minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities and establish Medicaid institutional payment transparency reporting requirements (September 2026).
Medicaid:
- Disproportionate Share Hospital Program – The final rule would implement requirements under section 203 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), which relate to Medicaid shortfall and third-party payments (February 2024).
- Access to Care – A final rule intended to improve access to care and quality outcomes for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries enrolled in fee-for-service Medicaid (April 2024).
- Drug Rebate Program – The final rule would establishes requirements related to manufacturers’ misclassification of covered outpatient drug products under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program (MDRP). In addition, it finalizes beneficiary protections, as well as MDRP program integrity and administration changes (June 2024).
Commercial Insurance:
- Association Health Plans – The final rule would make changes the definition of employer under ERISA-Association Health Plans (April 2024)
Other Topics:
- Healthcare System Resiliency and Modernization – The proposed rule would revise and update national emergency preparedness requirements for Medicare- and Medicaid-participating providers and suppliers (was set for December 2023).
- Health IT – The proposed rule would advance interoperability through proposals for: standards adoption; public health IT certification; expanded uses of certified application programming interfaces (APIs), such as for electronic prior authorization, patient engagement, care management, and care coordination; and information sharing under the information blocking regulations (was set for November 2023).
- Disability – The final rule would revise regulations under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to address discrimination on the basis of disability in HHS-funded programs and activities (April 2024).