Both chambers of Congress are in session this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Senate is out today, and the House is out on Friday.
Both chambers will also hold healthcare-related hearings on Wednesday morning...more
Medicaid Regs Part 2! Last week, Regs & Eggs took a deep dive into the Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services final reg, one of two regs that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released to add new requirements...more
5/3/2024
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) ,
Fee-for-Service ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Exchanges ,
Healthcare ,
Managed Care Contracts ,
MCOs ,
Medicaid ,
Price Transparency ,
Proposed Regulation
On April 22, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Managed Care Access, Finance, and Quality final rule. CMS finalized several substantial...more
Congress is back in session this week, with the House in today and the Senate returning tomorrow. They are back for a four-week stretch until the Memorial Day recess break. Congress has already moved many of the major bills...more
4/30/2024
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Congressional Committees ,
Final Rules ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medicaid ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Senate Committees ,
U.S. House
Earlier this week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released two final regulations that added new requirements for states when operating their Medicaid programs. Medicaid is currently the largest health...more
While congressional debate and action will focus on aid to Israel this week, committees will continue to move forward their health agendas via hearings. The House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the Change Healthcare...more
4/16/2024
/ Congressional Review Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Federal Budget ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Israel ,
Long-Term Care ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare
Neil deGrasse Tyson routinely reminds us that January 1 is “a cosmically arbitrary event, carrying no Astronomical significance,” and that bodes well for Congress, whose new year is just getting started.
Sure, it’s...more
At midnight on Friday, funding runs out for the remaining six FY 2024 annual spending bills: State – Foreign Operations, Defense, Homeland Security, Labor – Health and Human Services, Legislative Branch, and Financial...more
3/19/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Congressional Committees ,
Federal Budget ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Legislative Committees ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Ways and Means Committee
BIDEN’S BUDGET -
Today, Monday, March 11, President Biden released his budget for fiscal year (FY) 2025. While the budget request represents the administration’s funding goals for the coming year, it also sheds light on...more
It is finally healthcare week in the 118th Congress. Congress has produced an agreement to fund six of the dozen outstanding appropriations bills and should avoid the partial government shutdown pending on Friday. To that...more
IT’S SHUTDOWN WEEK . . . AGAIN -
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. Congress returns to session this week, with precious little time to avert a looming partial government shutdown at midnight on Friday. After...more
2/27/2024
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Senate Committees ,
U.S. House
THERE’S NO GOLD RUSH, SO THE CHIEFS ARE STILL IN TOWN -
Last week, we noted that the Senate was “scheduled” to begin a two-week recess today, February 12. We used that wording intentionally because we knew things could...more
On January 9, 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved the New York State (NY) 1115 Medicaid waiver “Medicaid Redesign Team” (MRT). The MRT is a long-standing waiver in NY that has continuously...more
APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS MOVES FORWARD -
Over the weekend, negotiators in Congress agreed to certain spending allocations in order to fund various government agencies through most of the year. With both bodies in session...more
CONGRESS BUYS MORE TIME -
Last Friday President Biden signed a short-term funding patch. This extends government funding through a continuing resolution (CR) into March. Specifically, this CR gives Congress until March 1...more
PARTIAL SNOW DAY, PARTIAL SHUT DOWN?
Much of the federal government is closed today because of yesterday’s significant (for DC) and unexpected snowfall. However, part of the federal government is set to shut down this...more
The Senate is back in session today, and the House comes back tomorrow. The beginning of 2024 is looking a lot like the end of 2023, with the big factor being the need to address government funding for fiscal year (FY) 2024....more
1/9/2024
/ Billing ,
Congressional Committees ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
HELP ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medicare ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Price Transparency ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Senate Committees ,
U.S. House
Happy New Year! As we enter 2024, we want to lay out some of the main regulatory issues (both new and old) that McDermott+Consulting will be tracking over the next year. While these may evolve, we think they are still...more
1/4/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
CARES Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Laboratory Developed Tests ,
Managed Care Contracts ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
MIPS ,
No Surprises Act (NSA) ,
Physician Fee Schedule ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine
IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CONGRESS (BUT JUST FOR A WEEK)
Welcome to what should be the final legislative week of the calendar year.
The work that Congress does this week may provide insight into what will get...more
Two-Week Stretch Before Holiday Recess - Congress only has two weeks left in session for the rest of year. There is a lot to accomplish in those two weeks. While government funding has been punted into early 2024, Congress is...more
Limited Time Before the End of the Year and January 19 First, welcome back from what was hopefully a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving break. Although this year will not entail a year-end government funding package, we are...more
11/28/2023
/ Appropriations Bill ,
Congressional Committees ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medicare ,
NDAA ,
New Legislation ,
Payment Systems ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements
It’s Thanksgiving week, so instead of eating eggs with your regs, you should sit back, relax and reflect on the regs you are thankful for as you eat your turkey legs (or whatever you enjoy on Thanksgiving). Many of the...more
11/21/2023
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Digital Health ,
Final Rules ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) ,
Medicare ,
Mental Health ,
New Legislation ,
New Regulations ,
No Surprises Act (NSA) ,
Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) ,
Physician Fee Schedule ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Telehealth
Will the Government Shut Down at the End of This Week?
We have reached the final work week during which Congress will need to come to an agreement on funding the government or enter a shutdown...more
GOVERNMENT FUNDING EXPIRES SOON -
The government will run out of funding in 11 days, on November 17. The House will continue to work to advance annual appropriations bills this week. However, a continuing resolution (CR)...more
11/7/2023
/ Appropriations Bill ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Federal Funding ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) ,
Physician Fee Schedule ,
Section 340B ,
U.S. House
NEXT UP: SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON -
The House officially has a speaker: Mike Johnson (R-LA).
On October 25, Rep. Johnson became Speaker Johnson with a final vote on the first ballot of 220–209.
Speaker Johnson, a...more