Summary
The House is in session today and the Senate will return tomorrow. The House has scheduled a number of bills to be voted on under suspension, however the main event this week in the House is the expectation that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) will trigger her motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). The timing isn’t certain, but she has indicated she will make her move this week. Last week Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) put out a statement stating that Democratic leadership would support a motion to table the resolution and avoid a vote altogether. Additionally, the House Freedom Caucus, and many other conservative members have indicated they do not support vacating the Speaker, so the motion to vacate is expected to fail without too much political drama.
The Senate is expected to spend most of the week continuing to try and pass the FAA reauthorization bill that expires on Friday. With at least 70 amendments pending once the bill does pass it will likely need to go back to the House to be passed again as amended by the Senate.
Hearings:
Senate Budget Committee: On Wednesday the Senate Budget Committee will have a hearing titled “Alleviating Health Care Administrative Burdens” to examine alleviating administrative burdens in health care, focusing on reducing paperwork and cutting costs.
Senate Appropriations Committee: Also on Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies will hold a hearing to examine the President’s proposed budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2025 for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with FDA Commissioner Robert Califf.
HHS OIG Highlight
The HHS OIG reviewed Medicaid enrollees’ screening for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) by primary care clinicians. Despite recommendations, many Medicaid enrollees may not be screened due to challenges like time constraints, privacy concerns, and insufficient training. Clinicians also face obstacles in making referrals due to limited IPV support resources. The study highlights the need for reimbursement changes, better patient resources, and enhanced clinician training to improve IPV screening and referral services for Medicaid enrollees.
Regulatory Update
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently completed the review of a proposed rule that would implement a new Medicare payment model titled, Increasing Organ Transplant Access (IOTA) Model. OMB is also 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
- 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).
- 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).