Congress

Insurance stocks were up after CMS announced final 2008 Medicare Advantage (MA) payment rate increases that exceeded expectations Monday (April 2). The agency is vowing to clamp down on marketing and performance as Congress collects data on such abuses in an effort to justify MA reforms.

Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), chairman of the Ways & Means health subcommittee, reintroduced legislation Thursday (March 29) to provide comprehensive health care to all U.S. residents through a Medicare-administered program that would include coverage for prescription drugs and mental health services, as well as expanded benefits for children, pregnant women and low income patients.

The House Education and Labor Committee, as part of its plan to step up congressional oversight of OSHA, may take a closer look at some of the industry sectors hardest hit by ergonomics injuries, such as nursing and meatpacking, committee staffer Jordan Barab suggested at the American Bar Association's recent meeting in Naples, FL. The committee will probe OSHA's slow pace in issuing ergonomics guidelines, which the agency promised to draft when its ergonomics standard was repealed by Congress many years ago, as part of an incremental focus on ergonomics.

House Ways & Means health subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-CA) weighed into the mental health parity debate Friday by introducing a bill that aims to increase Medicare coverage of mental health services by eliminating the lifetime 190-day inpatient mental health coverage cap, among other key provisions.

The bill, the Medicare Mental Health Modernization Act of 2007, would also lift the "50 percent rule" and apply the normal 20 percent co-pay to all Medicare mental health services.

Three Republicans on the Senate health committee have drafted an alternative to the leading Senate drug safety bill. The alternative bill meets FDA's preference for using electronic prescription and health data to monitor drugs once they are on the market, sources say, instead of giving the agency a host of new authorities.

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) says he will stick to his own legislative proposal tweaking market protections in pediatric exclusivity legislation and not include proposals offered by colleagues to either shorten or lengthen exclusivity periods.

Democratic lawmakers are probing the administration for data on how many Medicare Advantage patients have availed themselves of the extra benefits that these Part C plans provide, data they hope will help them determine how much to cut back federal overpayments to these plans.

As Congress faces tough budget decisions, House Ways & Means health subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-CA) said at a hearing Wednesday that doctors, hospitals, post-acute care, drug plan payments and "Medicare Advantage payments, too" are all "on the table."

Three key House committees are launching probes into FDA, CMS and industry's handling of new safety concerns with widely prescribed anti-anemia drugs. Ways & Means health subcommittee chair Pete Stark (D-MA) vowed Tuesday to closely monitor CMS' review of its policies on Epoetin (EPO). Energy & Commerce Chair John Dingell (D-MI) a day later launched his own probe into FDA and industry's handling of EPO safety issues, and demanded EPO makers cease consumer advertising. Plus, Oversight & Government Reform Chair Henry Waxman (D-CA) is planning his own hearing, a key source says.

Congress will not intervene to empower CMS with access to IRS records in order to catch Medicare providers who are simultaneously tax cheats, Senate lawmakers said Tuesday (March 20), rebuffing a request by CMS' top bureaucrat. Instead, lawmakers are demanding that CMS step up its cooperation with other federal agencies in efforts to "match" Medicare providers with tax evaders for the purpose of recovering debt.