WHITE HOUSE:

Over the last two weeks, the White House focused on the relationship with the Dominican Republic, celebrating the 2^nd anniversaries of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, and the PACT Act, announcing the award, via ARPA-H, of up to $150 million for the Cancer Moonshot project, and the latest in Israel. 3 items of interest for us:

• More specifics in the Agency section below, but they announced the results of the negotiations for the first 10 drugs selected for the Medicare Drug Price negotiation program. The vast majority of the 10 drugs are heavily utilized by Medicare Part D beneficiaries. Importantly, in the coming years, Medicare will continue to negotiate pricing for more drugs (15 each in 2025 & 2026, and then 20 per year thereafter). This will significantly change the calculus for long-term care pharmacies and is something to keep an eye on.

• They announced a series of actions to spur the development of affordable housing throughout the country, including the availability, via HUD, of more than $100 million in funding to help. While the funding is targeted at cities & states, there may be opportunities at the local level to partner in housing & rehab projects. There is also a push to make it easier to build and develop housing projects.

• They launched a new “Time is Money” project to cut down on the time that companies force customers to spend on customer service headaches. While there are quite a few elements to the program, one key goal is to force health insurers to streamline the claims process and make it easier for beneficiaries to submit claims. Over the coming months, different agencies will be submitting proposed rules that will govern the process and increase the regulatory requirements for companies to make it easier for consumers. It’s something to monitor.

CONGRESS:

After a wild, and uncoordinated, Democratic National Convention (DNC), it’s time for the Presidential campaign to begin in earnest. Despite the immediate short-term bump in polling for the Vice-President, realistically, the race is going to be close, even as the Trump campaign changes strategy to deal with the new candidate. With Congress not slated to return until September 9^th, and a very lengthy to do list, including funding the government, expect the next few weeks of the summer recess to focus on campaigning. Elsewhere in the political world:

• Democratic fundraising has shifted into high gear, leading to a significant push on the part of the GOP to even the cash game.

• The repercussions of the election of a more liberal Supreme Court in Wisconsin was fully on display last week when several incumbents lost their primaries, giving Democrats their first realistic chance to take control of the Assembly for the first time in 15 years.

• A good read on the latest Progressive election losses from a focused, concerted effort to oust them, highlighting voter’s desire for more centrist candidates.

• One useful CRS Report: an update on when the Congressional Review Act (a tool used to upend regulations passed by a prior Administration) kicks in. You can access it here (PDF).

AGENCIES:

As mentioned above, the first round of negotiations for the drugs in the Medicare Drug Pricing program has been completed, with prices settled for the 10 drugs. CMS published a fact sheet, an infographic (PDF) and a more thorough data brief (PDF) on the process and potential savings.

CMS posted a data bulleting on helping maintain Medicaid eligibility for folks eligible for HCBS. You can access a copy here (PDF).

CMS posted a blog at Health Affairs on their data sharing initiatives undertaken through their CMS Innovation Center.

CMS provided a clarification on how to use certain place of service codes.

The OIG at HHS released a report on SNF compliance with federal requirements for infection prevention specialists. You can access the summary here (PDF) and the full report here (PDF).

The IRS announced that they’re starting to again process 50,000 low-risk ERC claims, even as they accelerate the review of high-risk claims.

The State of Texas sued the federal government over the Minimum Staffing rule. The formal press release is here, and, for those so inclined, the legal filing can be accessed here (PDF).

A federal judge blocked the FTC Non-Compete ban from going into effect.

An excellent read from Bloomberg on how the Supreme Court’s Chevron decision can specifically impact CMP’s issued by federal agencies.

FROM THE NOTEBOOK:

• As yet another hospital system announced that they are not renewing their contract with United Healthcare, a new report highlighted the struggle that hospitals are facing with MA growth. Politically, MA is experiencing more intense oversight, even as they launch a major lobbying blitz to support the program.

• New York announced $646 million in funding to invest in training and developing new healthcare workers.

• The Kaiser Family Foundation took a look at the state of Medicaid unwinding now that almost all states have completed their unwinding periods.

• The AMA explored the 10 states that have attempted to tackle prior authorization issues at the state level.

• Health Affairs explored the politics of the Medicare Drug Pricing negotiation program, following the close of the first round.

• Sellers Dorsey released their annual analysis of enacted state budgets. It’s a good tool to help get a grasp on spending at the state level. You can download a copy here (free registration required).

• NCSL released a new primer on the intersection of AI and healthcare at the state level. It’s a very helpful way to get a sense of which way the winds are blowing on state regulatory efforts on AI.

• AHCA released their latest Access to Care report, highlighting the challenging trends for SNF’s across the country. The full report is here (PDF).