September 29, 2023
Via: Healthcare DiveThose who have been following the new electronic health record rollout at Veterans Affairs hospitals over the past year will not be surprised to hear there’s been another bump in the road. The “reset” or “pause” that was instituted in […]
March 16, 2023
Via: Healthcare DiveWhile Congress laid out the broad principles for Medicare to negotiate “maximum fair” prices for drugs, much of the process and details were left to the CMS to develop this year ahead of negotiations starting in 2024 for a first […]
January 31, 2023
Via: Kaiser Health NewsWhen the covid-19 pandemic hit, Dr. Corey Siegel was more prepared than most of his peers. Half of Siegel’s patients — many with private insurance and Medicaid — were already using telehealth, logging onto appointments through phones or computers. “You […]
November 15, 2022
Via: Healthcare DiveCongress appropriated billions of dollars in additional funding over two years to avoid cuts to Medicare payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Provider groups last year successfully lobbied lawmakers to delay a 4.5% Medicare payment reduction until 2023. The 4.5% across-the-board […]
August 26, 2022
Via: Healthcare DiveIn its passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Congress has taken the long overdue step of eliminating out of pocket, or OOP, costs for vaccines under Medicare Part D. The OOP prohibition aligns with policies under Medicare Part […]
July 8, 2022
Via: Healthcare DiveThe executive order comes as attempts to codify abortion rights into federal law have repeatedly stalled in Congress and states attempt to restrict access to abortion and prosecute physicians who provide them. Calling the court decision an “affront to women’s […]
May 27, 2022
Via: Healthcare DiveThe administration requested the authority from Congress in President Joe Biden’s budget proposal for the 2023 fiscal year. The budget, which isn’t binding but comprises a wish list for agency funding, includes in some cases what the administration deems as […]
February 4, 2022
Via: Healthcare DiveCongress appears poised to work on a bipartisan mental health and substance misuse package this year, following a series of hearings this week stressing the need to boost the workforce, insurer benefits and telehealth access. Legislators also seemed to support […]
February 3, 2022
Via: Healthcare DiveWith Medicare insolvency expected in just a few years, lawmakers are zeroing in on ways to save the program money, including curbing prescription drug costs and increased oversight of privately run Medicare Advantage plans — though many of these measures […]
June 29, 2021
Via: Healthcare DiveAduhelm has already been infused into the first Alzheimer’s patients post-approval, but Medicare hasn’t readied any criteria for limiting eligibility. The FDA’s approval, which applied to Alzheimer’s patients broadly, didn’t take into account the clinical trial population, which included only […]
January 28, 2021
Via: The Medical NewsLate last month, before President Joe Biden took office and proposed his pandemic relief plan, Congress passed a nearly 5,600-page legislative package that provided some pandemic relief along with its more general allocations to fund the government in 2021. While […]
November 13, 2019
Via: ForbesLast week, Senators Durbin (D – Illinois) and Grassley (R – Iowa) attempted to advance the Drug-Price Transparency in Communications Act through unanimous consent, but objections from Senator Toomey (R- Pennsylvania) scuttled the plan to expedite passage of the bill. […]
November 5, 2019
Via: The Medical NewsLobbying campaigns and legislative battles have been underway for months as Congress tries to solve the problem of surprise billing, when patients face often exorbitant costs after they unknowingly receive care from an out-of-network doctor or hospital. As Congress considers […]
February 27, 2019
Via: Health Data ManagementAmericans are facing a growing threat to their privacy as their online activities are closely monitored and used to reveal increasingly personal information, including potential details about their state of health. Sensitive information and changes in daily habits are tracked […]
November 15, 2018
Via: Health Data ManagementA coalition of more than 80 organizations wants Congress to pass a maternal health bill by the end of 2018. The groups, which include the American Hospital Association and American Medical Association, support legislation passed by the Senate health committee […]
November 5, 2018
Via: Health Data ManagementLawmakers are trying address a deficiency of data when it comes to understanding an alarming spike in U.S. maternal mortality by enabling states to participate in nationwide information sharing. The U.S. maternal mortality rate has more than doubled between 1987 […]
September 28, 2018
Via: The Medical NewsAir ambulance rides are literal lifesavers. But how much should they cost? In the ongoing, crowdsourced “Bill of the Month” investigation, Kaiser Health News and NPR received more than a dozen bills from people around the country on the hook […]
December 18, 2017
Via: FierceHealthcareThe Trump administration, the House of Representatives and the attorneys general from multiple states have reached a settlement in a federal court case concerning the legality of cost-sharing reduction payments. The settlement has no immediate effect on what will happen […]
October 17, 2017
Via: ForbesEarly this month, I went to Washington, D.C., to serve as a witness for a hearing on “Examining Patient Access to Investigational Drugs” held by the Subcommittee on Health of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce. The […]
October 12, 2017
Via: ForbesAs the Republican-led Congress moves from its failed health reform effort to an attempt to restructure the U.S. tax code, the nation’s hospital industry is out with a new report defending its federal tax exemption. The American Hospital Association says […]