Friday, March 12, 2021
McDermott+Consulting is pleased to provide the McDermottPlus Check-Up, your regular update on health care policy from Washington, DC.
This Week’s Dose
Congress
Biden Signed American Rescue Plan
The American Rescue Plan of 2021 (ARP) largely follows President Biden’s initial $1.9 trillion proposal. The ARP extends unemployment insurance benefits and provides $1,400 stimulus payments to qualifying Americans. It also makes several important health policy changes, including providing funding for vaccine distribution and COVID-19 testing, making policy adjustments to Medicaid, facilitating insurance coverage and providing another $8.5 billion through a Provider Relief Fund look-alike mechanism to specifically support rural providers. The final bill also makes two narrowly focused Medicare payment changes. The version that was signed into law ultimately did not include a federal minimum wage increase, or a number of other financial and regulatory support provisions sought by healthcare providers. A summary of the major health-related provisions of the law is available here.
Friday, February 19, 2021
This Week’s Dose
The House Budget Committee meets today to combine provisions approved by other House committees last week into a final coronavirus (COVID-19) relief package for consideration by the full House of Representatives. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) took a first step toward reversing Medicaid work requirements. President Joe Biden is expected to name Chiquita Brooks-LaSure as his nominee for CMS Administrator, and named Elizabeth Fowler as his Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).
Congress
House Advances COVID-19 Relief Legislation. Last week, House committees approved pieces of the $1.9 trillion dollar COVID-19 relief package that congressional Democrats are preparing to pass through a budget reconciliation process. Although Republicans introduced numerous amendments throughout the committee consideration phase, the proposals advanced along party lines without any Republican-led changes. The House Budget Committee meets today (February 19) to compile each committee’s reconciliation pieces, and the full House of Representatives is expected to vote on the package the week of February 22, at which point the process will move to the Senate. Of note, there were no Medicare provisions in the legislative packaged approved by the House committees of jurisdiction, which means many provider priorities, like sequester and Advance and Accelerated Payment program relief are not included. Providers continue to pursue these and other Medicare changes; these and other policies could still make their way into the final package. The Senate rules require reconciliation bills to only include provisions that directly impact federal spending. Therefore, the Senate could significantly revise the House bill in the coming weeks in order to satisfy this requirement, and there is an opportunity for stakeholders to engage with Congress to push for changes.
Monday, January 25, 2021
Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States and issued a series of executive orders (EOs) in his first days in office. The new Administration also released a national coronavirus (COVID-19) response plan along with a series of staff appointments within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In this document, we review the likely healthcare policy reforms and actions expected from the Biden Administration in its first 100 days.
Administration
Biden Issued a Series of Executive Orders on His First Days as President.
As anticipated, President Joe Biden began his term by quickly issuing EOs, including a few relevant to healthcare stakeholders, which reverse certain Trump Administration policies and begin implementing a plan to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The EOs include policies to create a 100-day nation-wide mask mandate on federal property and inter-state travel (including on airplanes and in airports); reengage with the World Health Organization; restore the National Security Council’s Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense; and formally create the position of COVID-19 Response Coordinator responsible for coordinating the nation’s COVID-19 response efforts across all levels of government (Biden previously appointed Jeff Zients, former Director of the National Economic Council, to this role). On day two, President Biden also issued orders to expand testing capacity, increase vaccine roll-out and ensure adequate pandemic response supplies and personal protective equipment for frontline workers, as well as for schools (the text of the EOs can be found here). The President has said he plans to issue new EOs every weekday in January, focusing each day on different policy areas with healthcare as the focus on January 28 (though there could be additional policy announcements before then). In addition, the White House issued a regulatory freeze memo that directs the withdrawal of certain Trump Administration regulations that were not yet published. For rules that have been published but have not taken effect, the Biden Administration can consider postponing the rules’ effective dates for 60 days to allow agency heads and the Office of Management and Budget to review and determine appropriate actions for the rules. The Biden Administration already paused a final rule that would require health centers funded under section 330(e) of the Public Health Service Act to provide access to insulin and injectable epinephrine to low-income patients at the price the health center purchased these two drugs through the 340B Drug Pricing Program. This rule’s effective date has been delayed until March 22, 2021. We expect to see more of these announcements in the coming weeks.