Both chambers of Congress have adjourned for the Independence Day state work period, and will return next week. The Senate returns first on Monday, July 11, followed by the House on Tuesday, July 12. ‘<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Energy and Commerce\nSubcommittee Discusses 11 Public Health Bills<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Last\nWednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held ahearing<\/a> (TRP analysis<\/a>) to\ndiscuss several bills related to public health efforts. The legislation\naddressed several topics, spanning from foreign interference in U.S. biomedical\nresearch to women\u2019s health and equity issues, including uterine fibroids,\nclinical trial diversity, and maternal health care. Lawmakers also deliberated\non measures that would improve access to telehealth and mobile health care,\nenhance pediatric research opportunities and trauma care planning, and improve\ncommunity health care worker shortages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In general, Democrats\nencouraged support for workforce and mobile health legislation, as well as\nclinical trial diversity. Conversely, Republicans focused their efforts on\nbills that would protect U.S. biomedical discoveries, circumvent foreign\ninterference in U.S.-funded research, and secure intellectual property (IP).\nMembers on both sides of the aisle mentioned their support for telehealth\naccess, especially calling for reimbursement parity for audio-only telehealth\nvisits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n House VA Considers\nVeteran Health Care Legislation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, the House\nVeterans\u2019 Affairs Subcommittee on Health held ahearing<\/a> (TRP summary<\/a>) to consider\nsix pieces of legislation that address the health needs of veterans.\nConversations between members and witnesses from the Department of Veterans\nAffairs (VA) and veteran organizations (VO) focused primarily on access to\nreproductive health services in addition to mental health services and suicide\nprevention for veterans. The VA witnesses largely supported the intent and\ngoals of the bills being considered, however, they provided technical changes\nand suggestions, claiming duplicity of VA initiatives and a lack of clarity\nwithin the legislative language. The third panel of witnesses from VOs voiced\nthe need to reduce barriers to health care and promote equity and inclusion\nwithin all services for veterans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During the hearing,\nDemocrats supported bills that would expand access to reproductive health\nservices for veterans, while Republicans raised opposition to these policies\nand further promoted legislation to reduce costs for the VA and modernize VA\nhealth care eligibility requirements. While the discussion around reproductive\nhealth services remained partisan, bipartisan agreement arose around the\nnecessity to reduce veteran suicide rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n House Appropriations\nCommittee Marks Up FY 2023 Labor-HHS-Education Funding Bill<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On Thursday, the House\nAppropriations Committee held amarkup<\/a> (TRP analysis<\/a>) of the\nLabor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies\n(Labor-HHS-Education) fiscal year (FY) 2023 appropriations legislation (bill text<\/a>; press release<\/a>; bill report<\/a>). The bill\nwould provide $242.1 billion for the Departments, representing a $28.5 billion\nincrease \u2014 roughly 13 percent \u2014 over FY 2022. Within the bill, $124.2 billion\nis directed towards HHS, which is $15.6 billion over FY 2022 enacted levels and\n$298 million below President Biden\u2019s FY 2023 request<\/a>. This bill\nincludes provisions which seek to: (1) create jobs; (2) invest in education,\nchildcare, and research; (3) bolster public health infrastructure; and (4)\nadvance equal treatment for women. Despite Republican opposition to the\nproposed spending measure, the bill as amended was reported favorably out of\nthe Committee by a vote of 32-24, along party lines. Throughout the hearing, 14\namendments in total were offered, of which four were adopted by voice vote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n House Energy and\nCommerce Discusses Oversight of Private Sector Medicare Advantage Plans<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Also last week, the\nHouse Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held ahearing<\/a> (TRP analysis<\/a>) to\nconsider the inner workings of the Medicare Advantage (MA) program and the\nvalue that such plans provide to beneficiaries as currently structured. Members\nand witnesses were largely critical of the practices of MA plans as compared to\ntraditional Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) plans, noting that MA plans enjoy a\nwork-around of sorts that allows them to utilize internal clinical coverage\ncriteria that go beyond the scope of Medicare coverage rules in certain\ncircumstances. While both Democrats and Republicans to this opportunity to vent\nvarious critiques of the MA program and its real world implementation,\nRepublicans were generally less interested in encouraging a complete overhaul\nof the program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout the\nduration of the hearing, members examined the quality of care that seniors\nreceive through MA plans, pointing towards barriers to access to services that\npresumably result from utilization management techniques \u2014 namely prior\nauthorization and step therapy. Notably, bipartisan support emerged for the\nimplementation of electronic prior authorization. Witnesses additionally\nprovided several recommendations for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid\nServices (CMS) in seeking to improve the MA program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CMS Issues Updates to\nGuidance on Minimum Health and Safety Standards for LTC Facilities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued updates toguidance<\/a>\u00a0(TRP analysis<\/a>; fact sheet<\/a>;\u00a0press release<\/a>) on\u00a0minimum health and safety standards that long-term care (LTC) facilities must meet in order to participate in Medicare and Medicaid.\u00a0These updates can be found in the State Operations Manual (SOM) Appendix. Notably, the guidance\u00a0updates arbitration agreements\u00a0and encourages nursing homes to\u00a0reduce the number of patients per room. While CMS continues to review responses to its April request for information (RFI<\/a>) related to nursing home staffing regulations, last week\u2019s guidance requires\u00a0surveyors to consider Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) staffing data\u00a0in its evaluations in an effort to\u00a0improve inspections surrounding facility staffing based on such payroll data.\u00a0Following the comment period, CMS will consider public input and will move to finalize the rule \u2014 possibly with modifications \u2014 in the Fall of 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n