Congress

Hospitals and other providers that took out Medicare loans earlier this year are beginning to see their pay withheld as those loans come due, and while the Federation of American Hospitals is blaming Congress for not acting quickly to avert the situation, the Medical Group Management Association says CMS should delay and change providers’ repayment obligations during the pandemic.

The House on Friday (July 31) passed 217-197 a fiscal 2021 funding bill containing a cannabis provision that one group argued would effectively prevent FDA from enforcing product safety standards.

As lawmakers and industry experts criticize lack of federal coordination and slow turnaround times on COVID-19 diagnostic tests, HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir asserted that reports of widespread delays in receiving test results are largely inaccurate and that there are no significant problems with securing testing supplies.

A group of Senate Democrats are urging Senate leaders to wrap provisions from a data privacy bill introduced in May into the upcoming stimulus package as both sides of the aisle express interest in regulating personal health information collected by third-party apps in order to build public support for contract tracing and public health screening during the pandemic.

In their latest COVID-19 relief package, Senate Republicans propose allocating $4 billion to the United States Agency for International Development, of which $3 billion would go toward U.S. contributions to the international vaccine alliance Gavi, and $1 billion toward supporting vaccine distribution abroad.

The Senate GOP on Monday (July 27) unveiled its proposal for the negotiations over the next COVID-19 response bill, and while many of the health provisions track with a previous draft there are additional provisions and details, including a fee on Medicare beneficiaries to repay the Supplemental Medical Insurance Trust Fund for avoiding Part B premium increases in 2021, a five-year telehealth extension for Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics, and nursing home provisions that are in line with work HHS is already conducting.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Senate health committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced bills Monday (July 27) that aim to ramp up domestic procurement and manufacturing of medical products, and provide tax credits to qualifying personal protective equipment manufacturers.

The House on Friday (July 24) passed 224-189 an FDA spending package that would give the agency $3.21 billion in discretionary funding, an increase of $40.8 million over fiscal 2020 funding levels, and would provide the agency authority to recall drugs.

While a final package has yet to emerge, details are trickling out on the scope of Senate Republicans’ latest draft COVID-19 response bill: A summary floating on Capitol Hill that lobbyists say followed a GOP meeting on Wednesday (July 22) includes expected liability protections, less funding for provider relief than sought by stakeholders, an extension of telehealth reimbursement through 2021, and flat Medicare Part B premiums for next year.