CMS plans to reinstate on May 10 three nursing homes requirements waived due to the pandemic, including one that eliminated the advance notice that facilities must give patients before moving them, but the agency plans to continue the nurse aide training and certification waiver that lawmakers and patient advocates have said are no longer necessary.

State Medicaid officials told the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission Friday (April 9) that while telehealth has been crucial throughout the COVID-19 public health emergency, refinements are needed before telehealth can be made permanent.

Pfizer and BioNTech on Friday (April 9) asked FDA to expand the emergency use authorization for their COVID-19 vaccine to include adolescents ages 12 to 15, coming a little more than a week after the companies announced that phase 3 data show the vaccine is 100% effective in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection and induces a robust antibody response in that age group.

President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2022 discretionary budget preview, released Friday (April 9), builds off health priorities in the recently enacted American Rescue Plan and proposed American Jobs Plan by calling for additional funding for home- and community-based services, tackling the opioid crisis, rural health and more.

The Biden administration wants to enhance FDA’s “organizational capacity” as part of its larger goal of preparing the United States to respond to future public health crises.

President Joe Biden wants Congress to give $8.7 billion to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in fiscal 2022 -- an increase of $1.6 billion over fiscal 2021 enacted levels that, if Congress were to follow through on, would be the largest budget authority hike for CDC in nearly 20 years, the White House says in its discretionary budget proposal released Friday (April 9).

The Senate Finance Committee will hold confirmation hearings for CMS Administrator-nominee Chiquita Brooks-LaSure and Deputy HHS Secretary-nominee Andrea Palm on April 15, months after the Biden White House announced the appointments and as Democrats gear up for a potentially major health care overhaul.

CMS proposes to increase skilled nursing facility’s pay a net 1.3%, or $444 million, in fiscal 2022, and to add two new quality reporting measures in fiscal year 2023: vaccination rates among health care personnel staff and health care acquired infections.