Congress

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is negotiating with the White House on a government drug price negotiation plan that spans Medicare Part D, Part B and Medicaid, and the Federal Trade Commission or the Veterans Health Administration would arbitrate when HHS officials and drug company executives fail to agree on price, according to sources briefed on the latest proposal.

The House Energy & Commerce health subcommittee on Thursday (July 11) approved bills that would delay Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) cuts for two years and decrease the cuts in fiscal 2022 as well as fund community health centers, the National Health Service Corps, teaching health center Graduate Medical Education and special diabetes programs through fiscal 2024.

A bipartisan group of senators, including Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), has introduced a bill that aims to encourage scientific and medical research on marijuana in part by streamlining development of FDA-approved drugs that use cannabidiol (CBD) and marijuana.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley told Inside Drug Pricing he wants Congress to require that drug makers disclose list prices for prescription drugs in television ads, coming a day after a federal court on Monday (July 8) ruled the Trump administration lacks authority under current law to regulate drug makers’ television ads.

Senate Finance Committee Republicans huddled with HHS Secretary Alex Azar and White House Domestic Policy Council head Joe Grogan Tuesday (July 9) to discuss the panel’s emerging drug-pricing package, but the group did not reach an agreement.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) proposal to tackle maternal mortality gives a much-needed focus on racial disparities in hospitals, but the plan should be anchored in investing in struggling hospitals rather than penalizing or rewarding hospitals based on outcomes, maternal health advocates say.

Doctors’ groups and accountable care organizations recently praised Rep. Suzan DelBene’s (D-WA) legislation to eliminate beneficiary cost sharing tied to chronic care management codes, as the providers say getting rid of the payments will lead to more beneficiaries taking advantage of those services.

Private health insurance premiums cannot be reined in without reforms to hospital payments, which make up the largest expenditures in the system, a new analysis from the Center for American Progress says, and the group offers several policy recommendations including rate-setting, reference pricing and site-neutral payments, among others.

House Energy & Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) wants FDA to provide an update on its inspections of imported cosmetic products, following a revelation in the administration’s proposed FDA 2020 budget justification that the agency will conduct zero inspections of foreign cosmetics facilities in fiscal 2019 and 2020.