Congress

Lawmakers are searching for a way to penalize private equity-backed physician staffing firms that rely on surprise billing as part of their business model, but experts say that it is nearly impossible to target these “bad actors” without handicapping the entire system.

House Oversight and Reform consumer policy subcommittee Chair Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) says Congress should investigate so-called fourth-generation vaping products, a term one public health official used to describe newer products that contain higher levels of nicotine that are particularly addictive.

A Senate Finance Committee task force charged with looking at six expiring health taxes, including the Affordable Care Act’s taxes on medical devices and health insurers, failed to reach a consensus on next steps in a newly issued report.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday (Sept. 19) passed a bill that would give FDA an $80 million funding boost in fiscal 2020, with substantial investments in the agency’s medical countermeasures initiatives, pathogen reduction efforts, compounding oversight, food safety and outbreak prevention, cannabidiol activities and infrastructure maintenance.

A package of so-called health extenders was tucked into the continuing resolution introduced in the House late Wednesday (Sept. 18) to avert a government shutdown Oct. 1.

House Education & Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) said that his committee is sorting out technical issues to ensure its surprise billing fix applies to ERISA as well as all other forms of health coverage, and that the committee is also stuck on whether to use a benchmark payment rate or arbitration as the policy fix.

The American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) wants Congress to provide FDA an extra $316 million to support regulatory science initiatives for medical products, specifically cancer therapies.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is expected to release her long-awaited government drug price negotiation plan on Wednesday (Sept. 18).

The Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic demonstration program lost its funding Friday (Sept. 13) for the second time this year after a short-term extension lapsed, threatening access to medication-assisted treatment and the jobs of those who work at these clinics, according to patient advocates.