LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY UPDATE
Week in Brief
CMS Issues Final Rule Updating FY 2017 Medicare Payment Policies and Rates Under the IPPS and LTCH PPS; Rule Rescinds the 0.2% Medicare Rate Cut Under the Two-Midnight Policy.
CMS Announces Open Application Period for Primary Care Practices to Participate in the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+).
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
August 1
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Highlight Findings from a GAO Report on Federal Support for Uncompensated Hospital Care.
August 2
Florida House Representatives Write to CDC Director Requesting Reconsideration of Zika Virus Funding Distribution.
REGULATORY UPDATE
Department of Health and Human Services
August 1
ASPR Awards $5.1 Million to InBios International, Inc. for Continued Development of a Faster Zika Virus Diagnostic Blood Test.
August 3
HHS Secretary Burwell Writes to Congress Requesting Additional Emergency Supplemental Funding to Combat the Zika Virus Domestically.
NIH Announces First Clinical Trial in Humans to Test Zika Virus Vaccine. Page | 2
August 4
CMS Announces Participants in Frontier Community Health Integration Project Demonstration, an Effort to Increase Medicare Beneficiary Access to Care in Rural Areas.
Other News
GAO Releases Reports:
- Hospital Uncompensated Care: Federal Action Needed to Better Align Payments with Costs (Aug. 1).
- Medicare Part B: CMS Should Take Additional Steps to Verify Accuracy of Data Used to Set Payment Rates for Drugs (Aug. 1).
- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Information on Approval Process for State Innovation Waivers (Aug. 5).
UPCOMING EVENTS
Congressional Hearings/Markups
- Veterans’ Affairs
- Technology and Treatment: Telemedicine in the VA Healthcare System
- August 9 | 9 a.m.
Camarillo Public Library
4101 E Las Posas Road
Camarillo, CA
- August 9 | 9 a.m.
- Technology and Treatment: Telemedicine in the VA Healthcare System
Department of Health and Human Services
- Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program Webinar
- Overview of the proposal in calendar year 2017 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.
- August 9| 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Via webcase
- August 9| 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
- Overview of the proposal in calendar year 2017 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.
- PQRS Feedback Reports and the PQRS Informal Review Process for Program Year 2015 Results Call
- Discussion of PQRS negative payment adjustments, feedback reports, and the informal review process for 2015 results and 2017 payment adjustment determination.
- August 10 | 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Via teleconference
- August 10 | 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
- Discussion of PQRS negative payment adjustments, feedback reports, and the informal review process for 2015 results and 2017 payment adjustment determination.
- Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-State, Tribal, Local and Territorial (STLT) Subcommittee
- Discussion on progress of implementation of ACD-adopted recommendations, other emerging challenges and how the CDC can best support STLT health departments.
- August 11 | 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
CDC
Building 19, Rooms 245-246
1600 Clifton Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30329
- August 11 | 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
- Discussion on progress of implementation of ACD-adopted recommendations, other emerging challenges and how the CDC can best support STLT health departments.
For more information about this issue of Power Play: Washington Week in Review or more legislative and regulatory updates, contact the Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville Government Relations and Public Policy group at (202) 466-6550.