The Congressional movement to eliminate the 2.3 percent medical device tax is misguided and may do more harm than good, according to an editorial in The New York Times.  

The House Energy and Commerce Committee published a discussion draft of new legislation, called the 21st Century Cures Act, that would promote the development of new medical advances for drugs and medical devices, reports Roll Call. 

An industry coalition representing some of the largest healthcare systems and insurers is supporting a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plan to accelerate the movement towards value-based care, reports The New York Times. 

The Congressional Budget Office has reduced its estimate of the cost for providing health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, reports The New York Times. 

The Obama administration has announced a major goal to tie half of all Medicare payments to quality of care by 2018, reports The Washington Post. 

In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama described the Affordable Care Act as part of the fabric of middle-class economic recovery as he spoke to a Republican-controlled Congress still working to dismantle the law, reports Clinical Innovation + Technology.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has approved recommendations to Congress to either freeze reimbursements or make them site neutral, which would save Medicare billions of dollars, according to Modern Healthcare.  

The FDA has released a draft guidance offering some clarity on how it defines a low-risk product: A general wellness product becomes a medical device when it refers to its use for a specific disease or condition, according to Medcity News.