Summary
The House and Senate are both in recess this week setting up a quiet holiday week on Capitol Hill. The break comes after a week full of healthcare and nutrition related hearings and markups last week, including House Agriculture Committee passage of a largely partisan Farm bill; the Senate HELP Committee passage of 7 bipartisan bills to reauthorize emergency services for children, Poison Control Centers, dementia infrastructure, respite care and protect healthcare providers; a positive Senate HELP Committee discussion on Food is Medicine; House Budget Committee hearing on Consolidation in Health Care Markets, PBM Reform, Rising Costs, and Medicare Physician Fees; and Senate Finance Committee hearing on policies to combat Fentanyl, as well as a discussion on the benefits of Telehealth for Behavioral Health Services. Additionally last Friday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) put out a bipartisan proposal to enhance and expand the Medicare Graduate Medical Education (GME) program to address physician workforce shortages across the country, primarily related to primary care and psychiatry, and to improve the distribution of physicians to rural and underserved communities. Committees will continue to work over the summer to lay the groundwork for a possible healthcare package in the lame duck session following the election. There is not likely to be a lot of floor action on healthcare related legislation before the election, apart from appropriations bills and the Senate’s plans to bring up a couple bills focused on women’s reproductive health in June.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is currently reviewing the following rules:
Medicare
- Calendar Year (CY) Payment Updates: The CY 2025 revisions to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule, the CY 2025 Hospital Outpatient PPS Policy Changes and Payment Rates and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System Policy Changes and Payment Rates proposed rule, the CY 2025 Changes to the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System and Quality Incentive Program proposed rule (June 2024), and the CY 2025 Home Health PPS Rate Update proposed rule (June 2024).
Medicaid
- 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).
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).