DCMedical News: Tuesday, February 27, 2018
DCMedical News
Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
To our new readers: This is an independent newsletter, published every day that one or another House of Congress is in session. Subscription information will be found at the bottom of these pages. “Trial” subscriptions will end in March.
THE BIG STORY TODAY IN HEALTH CARE
Budget and appropriations. HHS revised FY 2019 budget overview found here, CBPP study of budget impact on health insurance here, Continuing Resolution (for federal government expenditures) which expires March 23 found here.
Opioids: committees move into high gear, first Energy & Commerce hearing tomorrow (Wednesday, notice below), HHS Secretary Azar’s remarks to Governors here, opioids in the FY 2019 budget, here.
DOCTORS AND OTHER HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
ACOs: Doctor, are you ready to lose money (to the government!) in your ACO? Physician groups (AMA, ACP, AAMC, MGMA) appeal to CMS (letter here) to allow “Track 1” ACOs to continue in that track for a third contracting period. “Track 1” of the ACO Shared Savings Program is one sided--only rewards are possible, no “adjustments”--so 82% of ACOs are in Track 1. “Two-sided” tracks mean that the house can win, also. The groups write: “It’s important to recognize that Track 1 ACOs that are not ready for risk will not move forward; they will quit the program altogether. Using a government mandate for risk is not the solution to increasing participation and achieving successful results for two-sided ACOs.”
BPCI-A: CMS stays on schedule (here) with bundled care proposal, notwithstanding AHA complaint, here.
Physician Compare: What’s New? Webinar slides here.
HOSPITALS AND OTHER HEALTH CARE FACILITIES
Sequestration: The mischief of budget “sequestration” is discussed in a new Congressional Research Service report, found here, entitled “Medicare and Budget Sequestration.”
Mental Health: President to 39 Governors Monday: “We’re going to have to start talking about mental institutions, because a lot of folks in this room closed their mental institutions . . . We have no halfway. We have nothing between a prison and leaving him at his house, which we can’t do anymore. So I think you folks have to start thinking about that.”
Long-term care: one third of states now use managed Medicaid for better care, lower cost, per speakers at a Center for Health Care strategies forum Monday. But see also latest managed Medicaid scandals here and here.
HEALTH INSURANCE, MEDICARE, MEDICAID, COMMERCIAL
House Judiciary Committee hearing on CVS-Aetna merger: pre-filed testimony from CVS here, from Aetna here.
STLDIs: Short-Term Limited-Duration Health Insurance plans: proposed rule here, Kaiser Issue Brief here, letter from unhappy Democratic House and Senate Committee leaders to Idaho Department of Insurance here, coverage from Idaho press here and here, Katie Keith Health Affairs blog here, study from Urban Institute on the impact of STLDIs on everyone else’s premiums found here.
MedPAC comments to CMS on “Advance Notice of Methodological Changes for Calendar Year (CY) 2019 for Medicare Advantage (MA) CMS–HCC Risk Adjustment Model, Capitation Rates, Part C and Part D Payment Policies and 2019 Draft Call Letter” in a February 23 letter, found here.
New women’s preventive services guidelines (for diabetes screening after pregnancy, at least every three years for a decade, and for urinary incontinence, annually) found here. The action, taken by the Acting HRSA Administrator on December 20, 2016, will be published in the Federal Register today. Non-grandfathered health plans “are required to cover [these eleven] specified preventive services without a copayment, coinsurance, deductible, or other cost sharing” beginning the first plan year after 12-31-2018.
How does CBO model health insurance cost, enrollment? Two studies from CBO on modeling here and here.
PHARMA
Administration paper on lowering drug prices in the FY 2019 budget, here.
EVENTS & MEETINGS
Your February & March Calendar:
February 28
1:00 p.m., Health Subcommittee (Energy & Commerce) hearing, “Combatting the Opioid Crisis,” first of three, schedule and witness list at https://energycommerce.house.gov/subcommittee/health-115th-congress/.
March 1
8:30 a.m. MedPAC, advisory body on Medicare, Ronald Reagan Building, Horizon Ballroom, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave, continuing March 2. Subjects on the 1st: Unified payment for post-acute care, hospital ED services, dual-eligibles, readmission reduction. On the 2nd: cost-effectiveness analyses, population-based quality measures. “Meeting Brief” announcement of seven topics found here.
Transcript of January 11-12 meeting here.
9:30 a.m., MACPAC, advisory body on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, continuing March 2. Meeting agenda is here, new MACPAC report on §1115 waivers is here. Meeting location is One Constitution Avenue, NE.
March 6
8:30 a.m., Roll Call/CQ News, “Health Care Decoded,” with representatives of CVS, AdvaMed, Kaiser, the Governors, et al, register at: http://go.cq.com/2018HealthCareDecoded_01.RegistrationPage.html.
9:00 a.m., Health Affairs on advancing health equity, at the National Press Club, 15 or more journal article authors, focus on the March 2018 Health Affairs issue.
9:30 a.m., Brookings, “What’s Ahead for the Individual Health Insurance Market?”--various think tankers.
Information at http://www.brookings.edu.
March 7
8:00 a.m., AHIP National Health Policy Conference, program on opioids featuring FDA Cmsr. Gottlieb, Deputy AG Rosenstein, register at https://www.ahip.org/policy-2018-registration-policies/.
March 16
11:00 a.m., AHRQ, National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality, by WebEx, information at https://www.ahrq.gov/news/events/nac/.
March 26
PTAC, Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee, continuing March 27, information at www.regonline.com/PTACMeetingsRegistration or livestream at www.hhs.gov/live.
FOR REFERENCE
Members of the Senate (here) and Members of Senate Committees (here), Senate Calendar (here).
Members of the House with their House Committees (here), House Calendar (here).
PUBLICATION SCHEDULE FOR DCMEDICAL NEWS
DCMedical News is published every day that either the House of Representatives or the Senate is in session.
February publication dates remaining: 28.
March publication dates: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.
Notes to: Fred Hyde, MD, JD, MBA; fredhyde@aol.com