Policy & Regulations

This channel includes news coverage of healthcare policy and regulations set by Congress, the states, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and medical associations and societies. 

GAO: 'Comprehensive strategy needed' for MU CQMs

EHR adoption is rising among eligible professionals and hospitals, but the Department of Health & Human Services lacks a comprehensive strategy to ensure it can reliably use clinical quality measures collected in EHRs for quality measurement activities, according to an 81-page report released by the General Accounting Office.

GOP senators want specifics on hardship exemptions

Six Republican senators called on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to provide more details on its stated plans to grant certain healthcare providers exemptions from EHR regulations.

Thumbnail

Obama’s FY15 budget allocates $77B for HHS

President Obama has unveiled his $3.9 trillion fiscal year 2015 budget proposal, which allocates $77.1 billion to support the Department of Health & Human Services and $1.8 billion for health IT incentive payments.

SGR Repeal Faces a New Threat: Politics

House Republicans may tie passing a permanent repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula to delaying the Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual mandate on buying health insurance.

Doctors Seek CMS Help on ACA Insurer Rule that Puts Practices at Risk

Current requirements for when insurers must tell physician practices that a patient’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance exchange purchased health plan is in danger of being cancelled could leave doctors unreimbursed for their services warned more than 80 state and national organizations in a letter to CMS.

Thumbnail

Senators Introduce Bill to Fix “Two Midnight Rule”

U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Deb Fisher (R-Neb.) have introduced legislation that would require CMS to change its new guidelines around when a Medicare patient hospital stay is judged to be an inpatient stay.

Thumbnail

Congress questions CMS, OIG on MU incentive fraud

On the heels of an indictment that accused a former Texas healthcare executive of collecting $800,000 in EHR incentive payments under false pretenses, lawmakers from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce are looking for answers from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) on why fraud is happening within the program.

Thumbnail

California Ballot Initiatives Seek to Limit Hospital Executive Salaries and Prices

Two ballot initiatives in California tap into public frustration about the high cost of medical care and confusion about the difference between hospital charge master prices and the actual price for care.

Around the web

The tirzepatide shortage that first began in 2022 has been resolved. Drug companies distributing compounded versions of the popular drug now have two to three more months to distribute their remaining supply.

The 24 members of the House Task Force on AI—12 reps from each party—have posted a 253-page report detailing their bipartisan vision for encouraging innovation while minimizing risks. 

Merck sent Hansoh Pharma, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, an upfront payment of $112 million to license a new investigational GLP-1 receptor agonist. There could be many more payments to come if certain milestones are met.