Congress returned from its two-week spring recess, kicking off a busy work period leading up to the Memorial Day recess. The House Energy and Commerce Committee held hearings to receive an update from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and to examine primary care and healthcare workforce bills. Congressional committees also announced several health-focused actions scheduled for next week. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2024 final rule. Abortion-related issues returned to the Supreme Court of the United States.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Holds Hearing Focused on HHS OIG. On April 18, the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing with testimony from the OIG. The hearing focused on three areas:
During her testimony, Inspector General Grimm highlighted several OIG reports regarding unaccompanied minors, NIH grant management, and fraud within the Medicare and Medicaid programs. She explained that a lack of funding has made it difficult to keep up with surges in unaccompanied children and the investigation of fraud and abuse cases, and noted that President Biden’s FY 2024 budget request is critical for providing OIG with the increased resources that it needs to conduct oversight.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Holds Hearing on Workforce and Primary Care. On April 19, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee held a legislative hearing focused on efforts to strengthen and reauthorize healthcare workforce and primary care programs, many of which are due to expire later this year without congressional action.
The hearing included testimony from the administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the agency within HHS that administers and supports workforce and primary care programs. The subcommittee examined eight pieces of legislation during the hearing:
The hearing also included significant discussion of the 340B program and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Reps. Carter (R-GA), Griffith (R-VA), Burgess (R-TX) and Joyce (R-PA) pushed for increased transparency and accountability in this space.
Congressional Committees Schedule Flurry of Healthcare Activity. The week of April 24 is shaping up to be a busy one for healthcare on Capitol Hill, with committee activity scheduled in both the House and Senate.
The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee scheduled a legislative hearing for April 26. The 17 healthcare bills on the agenda are focused on transparency and competition, and could have a significant impact on certain providers, plans and PBMs. The policies under consideration include both introduced legislation (all of which is bipartisan) and unintroduced discussion drafts (for which sponsors are unknown). Links to legislative text can be found here. CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure is scheduled to testify during the hearing, along with a to-be-announced second witness panel.
Three additional House committees are scheduled to hold health-related hearings that day. The House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee will hold a health-focused hearing to discuss tax-exempt hospitals and the community benefit standard. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions is scheduled to hold a hearing on reducing healthcare costs that is anticipated to include review of excepted benefits for telehealth services and association health plans. The House Appropriations Labor-HHS Subcommittee is scheduled to hold an oversight hearing on the provider relief fund and healthcare workforce shortages, featuring testimony from the HRSA administrator.
Across the Capitol, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will reportedly meet to consider bipartisan legislation related to PBMs next week. This comes as the Senate Finance Committee announced a bipartisan legislative framework that the committee will use to pursue legislative solutions to address PBMs and the prescription drug supply chain.
We will cover these events in next week’s Check-Up.
CMS Issues 2024 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters Final Rule. Released on April 17, this final rule sets standards for issuers and Marketplaces, as well as requirements for agents, brokers, web-brokers and assisters that help consumers with enrollment through Marketplaces that use the federal platform.
A CMS fact sheet includes detailed information on the provisions of the final rule, including the following:
HHS Releases Ownership Data for All Medicare-Certified Hospice and Home Health Agencies. On April 20, HHS released detailed information on the ownership of more than 6,000 hospices and 11,000 home health agencies certified to participate in the Medicare program.
The data also includes details on mergers, acquisitions, consolidations and changes in ownership since 2016. CMS expects to release updated hospice and home health ownership data on a quarterly basis in a searchable format on data.cms.gov. Click here for hospice data and here for home health agency data.
Supreme Court Rules on Abortion Drug Access. On April 19, the Supreme Court issued a second temporary stay on recent decisions from a US district court and the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that would restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone and reverse the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the generic version of the drug.
The high court is expected to issue a decision by the end of the day on Friday, April 21. The extension of the temporary stay gives justices additional time to consider two separate emergency appeals from the Biden Administration and Danco Laboratories, the company that manufactures the branded version of the drug.
The House and Senate will be in session, as pressure builds for Republicans and Democrats to reach an agreement on a budget and debt limit compromise. House Republicans are poised to bring their debt limit package to the House floor; the package contains Medicaid work requirements and provisions to rescind any unspent COVID-19 relief funding. The package is a nonstarter for Democrats. Four House committees are scheduled to hold health-related hearings, and the Senate HELP Committee is expected to take up PBM legislation.
For more information, contact Debra Curtis, Kristen O’Brien or Erica Stocker.
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