DCMedical News: Friday, March 23, 2018
DCMedical News
Washington, D.C.
Friday, March 23, 2018
Publication dates: DCMedical News publishes each day that either the House or the Senate is in session. Next week and the following week Congress is in recess. The next regularly scheduled publication date is April 9.
THE BIG STORY TODAY IN HEALTH CARE
Dissection of the Omnibus Budget bill continues:
Doctors: graduate medical education unchanged;
Hospitals and Health Care Facilities: no (additional) Medicare sequestration in budget;
Health insurance: market stabilization (Cost-Sharing Reduction payments, reinsurance) left out completely;
Pharma: pharmaceutical manufacturer attempts to “push back” responsibility for closing the donut hole left out; $3.7 billion in for opioids; increases for NIH ($3 billion), CDC ($1.1 billion);
The 2,232-page bill here; 9-page Labor HHS-Education summary here; 152-page Senate Appropriations Committee explanation of bill contents here; four-page Senate Appropriations Committee overview of bill here.
DOCTORS, NURSES, HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
Stanford’s Dr. John Ioannidis, well known truth teller in medicine, discusses (in this week’s JAMA) lowering the P value from .05 to .005 (here), since (in medicine and especially in health policy) “The vast majority (96%) of articles that report P values in the abstract, full text, or both include some values of .05 or less. However, many of the claims that these reports highlight are likely false.”
HOSPITALS AND HEALTH CARE FACILITIES
340B safety net hospitals and the Senate HELP Committee: testimony of Bruce Siegel, America’s Essential Hospitals, here; Joseph Hill, American Society of Hospital Pharmacists, here; Lori Reilly, PhRMA, here; Sue Veer, National Association of Community Health Centers, here.
“Strata Decision Technology” and Becker’s did a survey of 100 hospital and health care executives, finding 90% don’t know their cost to provide services.
HEALTH INSURANCE, MEDICARE, MEDICAID
Profitability of health insurance companies, Council of Economic Advisers report, here.
Medicaid: CMS Administrator Verma says states need relief on process proscriptions and that CMS should focus on outcomes. Major change in Medicaid managed care rules may be coming, she says. CMS publishes in Thursday’s Federal Register (here) a proposed rule to relieve states of gathering fee-for-service information when their enrollees are largely in managed Medicaid. (FFS information may include payments to providers, often much higher than ‘managed Medicaid’ payments.) Other forms of “flexibility”: Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas now have work requirements for Medicaid; five states are seeking waivers to place time limits on how long enrollees can receive Medicaid coverage.
Transparency, even if retroactive: the Omnibus will require disclosure of spending on health insurance exchanges, 2010 to the present, and monthly enrollment.
PHARMA
STAT has a unique report on a far corner of the Omnibus budget: “Tucked into some of the final pages of the sprawling, 2,232-page spending package congressional leaders unveiled late Wednesday are five pages detailing a complicated policy that represents a major win for Omeros, the Washington state-based company behind the cataract surgery drug Omidria. In fact, the language is painstakingly worded to ensure the policy affects Omeros and its product and almost no other drug companies.”
Energy & Commerce published a useful roundup of its second day (March 22) of opioid hearings, here.
EVENTS & MEETINGS
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.
Past issues can be accessed by clicking on “View this email in your browser.” Subscription information is found at the bottom of these pages. Trial subscriptions may end without notice.
April publication dates: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27.
Notes to: Fred Hyde, MD, JD, MBA; fredhyde@aol.com