Medicare

Kaleo CEO Spencer Williamson offered to lower the $4,100 price of the opioid overdose reversal drug Evzio as long as insurers give patients greater access to it, during his appearance on CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday.

The American Medical Association is recommending processes and parameters for prior authorization, which the doctor group says are aimed at improving the experience of Medicare and Medicaid patients while making things easier for doctors.

The White House budget office on Tuesday (Nov. 13) began reviewing HHS’ request for feedback on ways to revamp the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to boost efforts to coordinate care.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar doubled down on the Trump administration’s controversial plan to lower Medicare Part B drug costs by relying on international reference prices in a speech to the Commonwealth Fund International Symposium on Health Care Wednesday.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday (Nov. 14) indicated the innovation center is working on demonstrations to address the social determinants of health, and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Director Adam Boehler said he is working to partner with Housing and Urban Development and others, including in the private sector, on the issue.

While stakeholders expect lawmakers to focus less on Medicare than other health policy in the new Congress, strengthening Medicare is still part of Rep. Frank Pallone's (D-NJ) agenda for the House Energy & Commerce Committee, advocates hope Democrats will look at coverage gaps in the program, and lobbyists say lawmakers could take another look at the site-neutral cuts included in CMS’ recent hospital pay rule.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar on Thursday (Nov. 8) said CMS plans to both bring back the mandatory bundled-pay models the agency canceled last year and look at new models, including for radiation oncology.

CMS says about 93 percent of eligible providers in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System received a bonus for their 2017 performance and the vast majority avoided a pay cut -- though CMS Administrator Seema Verma says in a blog post that she expects performance in the program will change as the thresholds are harder to meet.

Ten Republican members of the Ways & Means Committee will leave the House in January because they lost their midterm races, ran for higher office, or decided to retire.