Congress

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.

The Senate on Wednesday (July 22) rejected Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Tammy Baldwin’s (D-WI) request to pass by unanimous consent a bill that would require President Donald Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act to provide states with medical equipment, such as tests, respirators, gowns and gloves.

Executives of five major vaccine makers that are part of HHS’ Operation Warp Speed assured House lawmakers on Tuesday (July 21) that most, if not all, of their supplies for producing and packaging a COVID-19 vaccine will come from the United States and Europe, and not from China.

As the Senate negotiates the upcoming coronavirus stimulus package, providers, plans and beneficiary advocates are laying out what they want to see in the package, including a bump in the federal Medicaid match, additional state funding, and a focus on contact tracing.

HHS on Monday (July 20) again defended its controversial decision that hospitals stop submitting COVID-19 data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and instead report the information to a new HHS database, with interim HHS Chief Information Officer José Arrieta calling the new dataset more robust than anything HHS has published before.

The health insurance industry is again laying out priorities for the next COVID-19 response package ahead of this week’s expected negotiations, and the industry’s list includes extending financial assistance to help employers cover workers, COBRA subsidies, an increase in the federal Medicaid match and federal funding to support the widespread testing needed to fully reopen the economy.

The non-partisan, non-profit United States of Care, founded by former CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt and other health policy experts such as former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, urge Congress to include in the upcoming COVID-19 relief bill funding for a Health Care Resilience Program that would grant advanced payments or loan forgiveness to providers who agree to accelerate their transition to value-based care.

Members of the House’s bipartisan Congressional Telehealth Caucus unveiled legislation Thursday (July 16) that would extend the expanded use of telehealth in Medicare beyond the pandemic.