Summary
The Office of Management and Budget released the Spring 2022 update for its Unified Regulatory Agenda. This resource serves to outline the planned rulemaking the Administration intends to undertake and offers a base case on timing for when such regulations may be promulgated (though such timeframes are not binding). Though it is unclear when precisely the Administration will promulgate its planned rulemaking, the updated docket of regulatory actions provides insight into the Administration’s current priority areas.
Overall, the Administration appears poised to continue moving forward on advancing its health priority areas through additional regulatory reform. Many of the planned changes are similar to those contemplated earlier under this Administration but have been delayed due to various reasons. For example, the Administration has signaled it continues to develop new regulations on the following issues:
- Equity: New proposed regulations to strengthen the nondiscrimination protections afforded under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and previously weakened under the Trump Administration.
- Payment Reform: A mandatory alternative payment model under Medicare, though provides no detail on what this model would address specifically.
- Mental health: Extending flexibilities for patients seeking treatments for opioid use disorder. In addition, the White House remains interested in establishing new regulations to promote health insurer compliance with the federal mental health parity requirements.
- Medicaid: Reforms that would improve enrollment and access to Medicaid and CHIP.
- Health Insurance: Revising the definition of “short-term, limited-duration insurance.”
- Interoperability and Transparency: Imposing stronger enforcements against information blocking; improving the electronic exchange of health information; and creating new requirements for electronic prior authorization processes (of note, many of these changes involve the Administrations’ continued implementation of the 21st Century Cures Act and the No Surprises Act).
As for new regulatory actions announced by the White House, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s proposed changes to tobacco – specifically, its plans to establish a maximum nicotine level for cigarettes – have garnered significant attention. On the equity front, new regulatory actions have appeared that would establish cultural competency requirements for Medicare and Medicaid providers, aligning with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)’s recently announced Health Equity Framework (details). Last, regarding payment reform, the Administration is planning to issue regulations that would update its mandatory Medicare demonstration model for radiation oncology (which was delayed indefinitely earlier this year).