Articles and Blogs

Finance Committee Passes Bill Increasing Oversight of Medicare Audit Contractors On June 3, the Senate Finance Committee passed a bill that would increase oversight of Medicare audit contractors and streamline appeals functions to expedite the Medicare appeals process. The measure would require CMS to establish incentives for auditors to ensure accuracy and allow multiple pending... READ MORE

House Subcommittee Circulates Proposed 340B Legislation The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee recently released draft legislation that seeks to reform the 340B Drug Pricing Program, which requires drug manufacturers to offer drug discounts to eligible hospitals and other facilities for outpatient use. The measure proposes a number of material and cosmetic changes, including... READ MORE

Cures Bill Unanimously Passes Energy and Commerce Committee On May 7, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the 21st Century Cures bill by a unanimous vote of 51-0. The legislation is designed to streamline clinical research and make more flexible industry pathways to approve medical devices and drugs to speed up the discovery,... READ MORE

Health Bill Clears House Subcommittee On May 14, the House Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee passed the 21st Century Cures legislation by a unanimous vote.  A day earlier, the full committee released an updated draft of the Cures legislation. The legislation now heads to the full committee level, where a markup is expected next... READ MORE

Senate Adopts Republican Budget On Tuesday, May 5, the Senate voted 51-48 to pass a Republican-led budget adopted by the House last week. The vote follows nearly two months of negotiations between Republicans in the House and Senate and comes almost three weeks after the budget committee chairmen in both chambers had hoped to... READ MORE

Committee Releases Discussion Draft of 21st Century Cures Legislation On April 29, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released the 21st Century Cures draft bill to accelerate the development and marketing of drugs and medical devices. The draft bill comes after eight committee hearings on the 21st Century Cures initiative since it was launched in... READ MORE

CMS Releases Proposed Hospital Payment Rule Late last Friday, April 17, CMS released the proposed FY 16 Medicare payment rule for inpatient and long-term care hospitals. CMS estimates the proposed rule would increase Medicare payments to 3,400 acute care hospitals by about 0.3 percent, or $120 million, in 2016 compared to this year. CMS... READ MORE

Senate Passes, President Signs SGR Replacement Legislation On Thursday, April 16, President Obama signed H.R. 2, the SGR repeal and replacement bill, into law.  The President’s signing ceremony comes two days after the U.S. Senate passed the SGR replacement legislation by a 92-8 vote.  The measure, which repeals the sustainable growth rate formula for... READ MORE

Conservatives Make Late Push for Fully Paid SGR Deal Conservative senators are pushing to strike a provision in legislation to repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”) and pressure Congress to pay for the remaining $141 billion of the doc fix deal’s cost later this year.  Sens. Ben Sasse (R-NE), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Mike Lee... READ MORE

Despite Lack of Senate Action, Medicare Physicians Won’t Face Pay Cut Late last week, the Senate recessed for its Easter break without taking action on legislation to permanently repeal and replace the Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”).  The House had passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (H.R. 2), known as the SGR replacement,... READ MORE