On July 25, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), unveiled the highly anticipated joint request...more
On June 24, 2025, in a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. revealed that his department plans to soon...more
On May 30, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services released additional information regarding the Trump administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget request. The release of these FY26 budget materials is timely as...more
Yesterday, the White House’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, led by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released its inaugural health report titled, Make Our...more
On Monday, May 12, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) titled, “Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to Americans,” aimed at reducing prescription drug prices by implementing a...more
On April 15, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) titled, “Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First,” building on drug pricing related actions from his first term, President Biden era...more
In the past week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced three new initiatives related to food safety and food supply chain transparency....more
3/25/2025
/ Comment Period ,
Compliance ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Final Rules ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Food Safety ,
FSMA ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Supply Chain ,
Transparency
On February 13, the Senate approved Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services and the White House shortly thereafter issued an Executive Order establishing the Make America Healthy...more
As the new year begins, change is afoot inside the Beltway as the 119th Congress gets underway and Washington prepares for President Trump’s second administration. While change is bringing uncertainty on some fronts, health...more
1/6/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
DEA ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Funding ,
Healthcare ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Over The Counter Drugs (OTC) ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Trump Administration
In recent days, President-elect Trump has made progress in announcing the names of various individuals he intends to nominate to serve in some of the most senior and influential leadership positions at the Department of...more
Most presidents spend the first days of their administration reversing the policies of their opposite party predecessor and laying the groundwork for their own policies with a series of executive orders. President Trump is...more
11/15/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
China ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Deregulation ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Environmental Policies ,
EU ,
Immigration ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
National Security ,
NGOs ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Tariffs ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Trade Act of 1974 ,
US Trade Policies
On June 28, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court overturned the longstanding Chevron doctrine, under which courts generally granted deference to a federal agency’s reasonable interpretation of ambiguous...more
7/9/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Corner Post Inc v Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Government Agencies ,
Healthcare ,
Judicial Authority ,
Life Sciences ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Regulatory Authority ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation
The upcoming election, and the approaching end of the President’s four-year term, introduce additional dynamics into the agencies’ rulemaking process and even the guidance process. From now through the November election, the...more
4/25/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
GAO ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
HRSA ,
Laboratory Developed Tests ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
NIST ,
Nursing Homes ,
OIG ,
OIRA ,
OMB ,
Payment Systems ,
PHI ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Presidential Elections ,
Proposed Guidance ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Rulemaking Process
Last year, both Congress and the Biden-Harris administration noticeably increased their attention on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Key congressional committees explored AI implications for health care & life sciences, and the...more
1/5/2024
/ AHRQ ,
Algorithms ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Biden Administration ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Healthcare ,
Life Sciences ,
Machine Learning ,
Transparency
Health care was one of the most active issue areas in 2023 and this trend is expected to continue when Congress returns in the New Year for the second session of the 118th Congress. The activity by the health committees of...more
1/2/2024
/ Appropriation ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Clinical Laboratories ,
Congressional Oversight ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Diagnostic Tests ,
Drug Pricing ,
Fiscal Year ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Medicare ,
Mental Health ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Price Transparency ,
Proposed Rules ,
Supply Shortages
In January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) kicked off the year by announcing a much-anticipated proposal to restructure their human foods program (HFP), and the agency has continued to work on the details of...more
Key Points -
President Biden’s eagerly-awaited executive order (EO) on artificial intelligence (AI) tasks the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) with promoting responsible AI innovation, development and use,...more
11/13/2023
/ Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
FTC Act ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
HITECH Act ,
Joe Biden ,
Life Sciences ,
Machine Learning ,
ONC ,
Popular
Health care has been one of the most active issue areas in the 118th Congress. The activity by the health committees of jurisdiction in both the House and the Senate has been fueled in part by efforts to reauthorize various...more
9/1/2023
/ Animal Drugs ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
DEA ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Healthcare ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Opioid ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Supply Shortages ,
Telehealth ,
Transparency
This week marks the one-year anniversary since the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which included sweeping reforms empowering the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to set prices for certain...more
8/16/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Biosimilars ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Generic Drugs ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Life Sciences ,
Medicare ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Regulatory Agenda
Congress is taking a closer look at business practices in the health care sector and considering bipartisan reforms in light of increasing consolidation and its perceived affects on patient access and affordability. Various...more
Are Accelerated Approval Drugs a New Target for Cost Reductions? As outlined in our prior analysis, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included sweeping drug pricing reforms for the Medicare program and the Biden-Harris...more
The Biden-Harris administration and Congress appear poised to continue focusing on drug pricing issues this year, most notably with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services moving forward with implementation of the drug...more
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), P.L. 117-169, which became law on August 16th, included some of the most consequential prescription drug pricing reforms ever passed by Congress. This week marked a pivotal milestone in the...more
There continues to be no shortage of FDA-related issues in front of Congress this summer. In recent days, the pace of Congressional action on reauthorizing FDA’s user fee programs has significantly picked up with the Senate...more
Last month, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 20 to 2 to advance S. 3799, the Prepare for and Respond to Existing Viruses, Emerging New Threats and Pandemics Act (the “PREVENT Pandemics...more