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The Senate has confirmed health policy veteran Chiquita Brooks-LaSure as the Biden administration s head of CMS, following a drawn-out approval process. As CMS administrator, Brooks-LaSure will have extensive oversight over the massive Medicare and Medicaid insurance programs and the exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act.
The body voted 55-44 to confirm the nominee Tuesday morning. A majority of the Senate on Monday voted to limit debate on her nomination, queuing up Tuesday s final vote. Brooks-LaSure s nomination was earlier held up by Senate Republicans over an unrelated Biden administration policy move to rescind a Texas Medicaid waiver.
Congress Protects Patients and Delays Medicare Payment Cuts; Still More Work to Be Done
COVID-relief package includes legislative fix equivalent to $6 billion to ensure patient access to surgeons
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ Congress voted to protect patients access to surgical care by delaying steep Medicare payment cuts from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that it included in the 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS), according to the Surgical Care Coalition. Congress rightly prioritized patients by rejecting CMS s disastrous Medicare payment cuts, said John A. Wilson, MD, FAANS, FACS, President of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. COVID-19 has pushed our health care system to the brink, and physicians fighting on the front lines will not have this misguided policy hanging over their heads. There is still work to do to ensure patients have timely access to surgic
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ Senators John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced legislation today that will reverse the devastating payment cuts that will further harm the health care system already under strain due to COVID-19.
This legislation will ensure no healthcare professionals receive lower Medicare payments than 2020 levels for the next two calendar years. Stopping these cuts will protect patients by preserving access to quality surgical care and ensuring no physician will face payment cuts amid a historic pandemic. Our nation s physicians are under incredible strain due to COVID-19, and this bill begins to correct a misguided and ill-timed policy that would cut health care spending in the middle of a pandemic, said David B. Hoyt, MD, FACS, American College of Surgeons Executive Director. Time is running out to reverse these cuts and pr
December 10, 2020 7:02 AM By Zachary Sherwood and Brandon Lee
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Nancy Pelosi have given no sign yet that theyâre ready to directly engage in negotiations to sort through competing pandemic relief proposals a step that many lawmakers say will be necessary to complete a deal this month.
The Senate GOP leader is now on board with a $916 billion proposal released Tuesday by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, while the House speaker sees a rival $908 billion plan still being drafted by a bipartisan group of lawmakers as the best path to a deal to aid the struggling U.S. economy.