Articles and Blogs

Government Funded After Congress Borders on Another Shutdown Congressional negotiators have reached an agreement on a funding deal that avoids another partial government shutdown that would have occurred at midnight tonight. The measure would fund nine out of fifteen federal departments through September 30, 2019. President Trump is expected to sign the legislation into... READ MORE

 NATIONAL How hospitals use biometrics to prevent patient ID errors, speed service Bonus pay for doctors can boost quality of care OCR sets record in 2018 for HIPAA enforcement actions Healthgrades names ‘America’s Best Hospitals’ 2019 Private equity pushes into healthcare: 9 latest deals 50 best healthcare supply chains in North America, rated by... READ MORE

Senate Lays Groundwork for Pricing Transparency Legislation A bipartisan group of senators continue to lay the groundwork for the introduction of pricing transparency legislation. On February 5, the senators released a letter seeking information from stakeholders as they prepare to introduce legislation that builds on draft legislation from last Congress. The effort is being... READ MORE

HHS Previews 2019 Regulatory Agenda At a symposium on Tuesday, Deputy HHS Secretary Eric Hargan and CMS Administrator Seema Verma outlined the administration’s health care strategy for 2019, which includes advancing the use of technology, adjusting payments in rural areas and testing new ways to reward high-quality care and reforms to the Stark and... READ MORE

Short-Term Funding Deal Reached to End Government Shutdown This afternoon, President Trump announced a deal to temporarily reopen the federal government and end the longest shutdown in U.S. history. The deal funds the remaining federal agencies until February 15, giving lawmakers more time to try to work out a compromise on the immigration and... READ MORE

Government Shutdown Continues With the partial government shutdown now on its 28th day, there is no doubt it will enter its second month. Lawmakers are headed home for the long holiday weekend, and no shutdown negotiations are currently scheduled for party leaders. House Democrats spent the week passing numerous continuing resolutions that would reopen the... READ MORE

Lawmakers Hit a Wall with Funding Negotiations – Shutdown Continues The three-week partial government shutdown continues without any progress towards an agreement to fund the federal government. Tomorrow, January 12, will mark the longest government shutdown on record as it exceeds the 21-day shutdown in 1996. Congress was in action this week. On Thursday,... READ MORE

Government Shutdown Looms Even as House Passes Funding Provision This week, Congress returned from its holiday break for a limited schedule of business as lawmakers were sworn in for the 116th session of Congress. On Thursday evening, the House passed (241-190) a measure to fully fund the government agencies that have been shut down... READ MORE

Negotiations to Secure Funding and Avoid Government Shutdown Collapse At the time of this writing, the federal government is on the brink of a partial shutdown at midnight if Congress and President Trump do not come to an agreement on outstanding government funding legislation. The process began Wednesday with the Senate passing a continuing... READ MORE

Congress Passes Two-Week Stopgap Funding Measure On December 6, Congress passed a continuing resolution that extends current funding for select federal agencies for two weeks. The extension became necessary after the services for former President George H.W. Bush halted almost all legislative activity on Capitol Hill this week. Lawmakers will now have until December... READ MORE