Congress

America’s Physician Groups say the infrastructure package expected to be unveiled later this week would be the perfect vessel to allocate additional provider relief, and specifically targeted at physicians, especially those in primary care, whom they feel have been largely left out of previous distributions in favor of relief for hospitals.

As providers and lobbyists anticipated, the Senate on Thursday (March 25) passed an extension of the Medicare sequester moratorium through the end of the year, but the legislation doesn’t include a House provision that would also head off additional sequester cuts created by the American Rescue Plan.

A bipartisan group of representatives introduced a bill Wednesday (March 24) that would allow Medicare Advantage plans to count diagnoses from audio-only telehealth services towards risk adjustment for at least plan years 2020 and 2021 and allow providers to be reimbursed at the same rate for audio-only telehealth and in-person care during the public health emergency.

Democratic Representatives urged hold-out states to expand their Medicaid programs, discussed new ways to nudge states to do so and touted the American Rescue Plan’s incentives at a House Energy & Commerce health subcommittee hearing Tuesday (March 23) on strengthening the Affordable Care Act.

The American Hospital Association is hoping the Senate will pass an extension of the Medicare sequester moratorium in the next few days and CMS will take that as a signal to hold off on any provider pay cuts until after the House passes the Senate version of the legislation.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Monday (March 22) on a wide- ranging infrastructure bill that includes funding to upgrade hospitals, renovate clinical labs, boost state and local public health facilities, build community health centers, update teaching and behavioral health centers, and expand broadband needed for telehealth.

Once COVID-19 vaccine booster shots become available, people with compromised immune systems and other preexisting health conditions likely will need to be first in line to get the shots since their antibody levels will wane faster than those of otherwise healthy people, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci told lawmakers during a Senate health committee hearing Thursday (March 18).

House Democrats hope in addition to averting a Medicaid fiscal crises in the territories in October, they’ll be able to come up with longstanding federal funding solutions -- such as eliminating the Medicaid cap for territories and changing territories’ federal Medicaid matching funds calculation to what’s used for states.

The House has delayed votes on three bipartisan drug-pricing and food safety bills that were originally slated to be taken up this week, a Democratic leadership aide told Inside Health Policy.