While there are indications that Washington has lessened its antipathy towards for-profit institutions, states continue to go in their own directions. This post focuses on the California Assembly’s recommendation to eliminate...more
Last week, the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA) by a razor-thin margin of 217-213. No Democrats supported the bill and 20 Republicans voted against it. Recall in March, the House was forced...more
Recently, the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee introduced a bipartisan discussion draft of legislation to reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration’s...more
On March 16, 2017, the Administration released its Budget Blueprint for 2018. Overall, the Blueprint upholds many of the campaign promises the President made, increasing military spending by significantly cutting funds from...more
On March 13, 2017, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released the budget “score” or cost, for the American Health Care Act (AHCA). The headline from the analysis is that the AHCA would cause 14 million people to lose...more
The Department released Gainful Employment Electronic Announcement #105 which gives institutions until July 1, 2017 to “(1) submit an alternative earnings appeal to the GE Debt-to-Earnings rates that were released by the...more
Following through on Republican campaign promises two key Congressional committees released legislation yesterday that further the process of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. After more than 60 attempts to...more
Around 2 a.m., the Senate voted along party lines to confirm Representative Tom Price to become Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The vote was 52-47 with no Democrats voting in favor. With repeated...more
Today the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted along party lines to forward the nomination of Betsy DeVos to the full Senate. The vote was 12-11 in favor of moving the nomination. Republicans...more
On President Trump’s first day in office, the White House ordered a regulatory freeze to allow the incoming administration to review any new or pending regulations. Federal agencies are required to take several steps to allow...more
On Thursday, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it would not move forward with its controversial Medicare Part B Payment Model (Part B Demo). The Part B Demo had come under heavy fire from...more
Today, the Senate voted overwhelmingly – 94-5 – to pass sweeping medical innovation legislation clearing the way for President Obama to sign it into law when it reaches his desk later this week. The 21st Century Cures Act,...more
This alert is the second in a series on what to expect during the transition between administrations with respect to education policy.
Lately, there have been many questions as to whether Congress might employ the...more
A smooth transition from the outgoing to incoming administration is a hallmark of democracy and something both parties strive to achieve. Among the myriad issues that must be addressed, one of the more important ones for both...more
The recent massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that caused major internet outages was led by an army of security cameras, digital video recorders, and other Internet of Things ("IoT") devices that had been...more
On Friday, October 14th, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the long-anticipated final rule with 60-day comment period (Rule) for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA)...more
Last week, Vermont adopted the first state law that requires drug companies registering the highest hike in prices to justify the rationale for the increase. Vermont policymakers are not alone pursuing laws that address...more
Health care policy issues continue to stream out of Congress and the Administration. The Senate held a markup of various health bills as part of its effort to produce a companion to the House of Representatives-passed 21st...more
Following a highly charged, often contentious three days of debate, the third session of the Negotiated Rulemaking on Borrower Defense to Repayment (DTR) ended as it started, without consensus. The Department of Education...more
On January 22, 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") issued draft guidance outlining important steps medical device manufacturers should take to address cybersecurity risks in order to improve patient safety and...more
Today, the President sent Congress the $4 trillion Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Proposal – his last while in office. While the Budget on the whole is dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Congress, there are provisions...more
Late last week, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) wrote to the leaders of Johnson & Johnson, GE Healthcare, Siemens USA, Medtronic and Philips USA, to “express serious concerns” about potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities in...more
Tuesday, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee announced that he will pursue a “step by step” approach to crafting major biomedical innovation...more
On December 17, 2015, Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced, S2410, the Cybersecurity Disclosure Act of 2015, which would require public companies to disclose what cybersecurity expertise their...more
Last week, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 (“the Omnibus”). This legislation contains both $1.1 trillion in government spending for FY16 as well as $650 billion...more