Congress

Hospitals are pleased that a bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday (Feb. 6) reintroduced the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, which would add 15,000 additional Medicare-funded residency slots over five years, shortly after Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) expressed concerns that graduate medical education funding needs to be reworked to better help rural areas.

Five Democratic senators, including a presidential candidate and another potential candidate, introduced a bill to let the government condition drug exclusivity on companies keeping price increases in the single digits.

NEW ORLEANS -- Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced a bill Tuesday (Feb. 5) that they say would lower drug prices by blocking tactics brand-drug makers use to delay generic drug development by withholding drug samples.

House Democrats laid plans for a hearing next Wednesday to examine three bills that would reverse Trump administration policies they say undermined the Affordable Care Act. Energy & Commerce health subcommittee Chair Anna Eshoo (D-CA) said her panel would weigh bills to revoke the short-term health plan rule, revive the ACA advertising budget and overturn the administration’s revised guidance on the 1332 waiver.

A group of drug makers and other health care stakeholders wrote to Senate health and Finance committee leaders on Tuesday (Feb. 5) asking them to pass a package of incentives to boost antibiotic development, saying pharmaceutical companies and investors are losing interest in the field due to a lack of return on new product development.

The new Democratic chair of the House subcommittee that handles HHS appropriations pledged Tuesday (Feb. 5) to use her position not just for budgeting purposes but also for aggressive oversight of Trump administration policies on the Affordable Care Act.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar urged rural health advocates on Tuesday (Feb. 5) to consider new health care models for delivering rural health care in a sustainable manner, and indicated it may be time to rethink the role of hospitals in the future of rural health care.

The House Ways & Means Committee next Tuesday (Feb. 12) will hold a drug-pricing hearing, which will be the fourth hearing on the topic over the course of a few weeks.

A week after the temporary end of a month-long partial government shutdown, the stakes are high for FDA as lawmakers and the White House resume talks on a possible deal to fund the government when the short-term spending bill ends Feb. 15.