WHITE HOUSE:

The White House focused this week on recognizing 100 days for the hostages in Gaza, a new round of investments in EV vehicle chargers, and a new “Improving Student Achievement Agenda” for 2024. Two items of indirect interest:

• They issued another round of student loans debt cancellations for 74,000 individuals who qualified for the PSLF (public student loan forgiveness. As many of the front-line heroes who work in SNF’s may qualify for this program, they may appreciate hearing about it from you.

• The Administration announced the release of another round of funding to help businesses and families connect to high-speed internet. The focus this time was $82 million, specifically for North Carolina. If you operate a facility in the state, there may be opportunities for you or your residents & staff. As many of your front-line folk may be eligible, they may appreciate hearing about it from you.

CONGRESS:

As anticipated last week, Congress passed, and the President signed, a short-term continuing resolution that funds the government through early March to allow time for Congressional negotiators to work through the technical details of the broad funding framework already agreed to last week. The bigger challenge, of course, remains GOP Speaker Mike Johnson incredibly tight majority, the ongoing combativeness of the GOP conservative flank, and the political math that will require Democratic support for any major legislation to pass. With Johnson following down the same path that Former Speaker McCarthy did, and Democrats again facing a question of whether to support the Speaker, the next six weeks remain a rocky road. Elsewhere in the political world:

• Details are emerging on the tax deal we mentioned last week. The bipartisan agreement, reached between Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D – OR) and House Ways & Means Chair Jason Smith (R – MO), still has a difficult path to passage. One important provision within the Act is that in order to pay for the tax credits in the deal the agreement will end the ERC program, effective immediately (although applications would can still be submitted till April). The formal summary of the Act, as prepared by the Ways & Means Committee, can be found here (PDF). The CRS also published a summary for members of Congress (PDF).

• Complicating matters for the funding negotiations is a near stalemate on a Senate-led border security bill, which has little support in the House, even after a White House sit-down with Congressional leaders this week. For our purposes, the Speaker reiterated that he doesn’t want to pursue “comprehensive immigration reform” this week, which doesn’t bode well for some of the necessary steps to help with staffing.

• Following on the heels of recent reporting by the NY Timesand the Washington Post on Assisted Living, Senator Bob Casey, Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, has set a hearing for next week to discuss the allegations.

• Following up on federal efforts to reclassify Marijuana as a Schedule III drug, an intrepid reporter released all 252 pages of communication between federal agencies on the matter, if you’re looking for some light reading to aid with insomnia. It’s available here (it’s a Dropbox link). A summary is here.

• Two relevant CRS reports from this week (links are to the PDF):

• LSB11105: A summary of the recent federal efforts to reclassify Marijuana as a Schedule III drug.

• R47902: A guide on federal efforts to address fraud in pandemic-era federal programs.

AGENCIES:

CMS finalized a rule that governs health data exchange and the prior authorization process. A fact sheet is here. A prepublication version of the final rule is available here (PDF) while the formal version will be published in the federal register on February 8^th. Roll Call and Axios have political summaries (i.e. through the prism of potential Congressional action) while Fierce Healthcare has a summary from the provider’s perspective.

The OIG at HHS announced plans to audit CMS’ oversight of the usage by state survey agencies of third party contractors to conduct SNF surveys.

CMS announced a new “Integration in Behavioral Health” model to test new approaches in mental health care for Medicare and Medicaid populations. The central resource page is here. The FAQ is here. The fact sheet is available here (PDF).

ARPA-H announced a new program designed to rethink how to provide better care to rural communities. The program, called PARADIGM (“Platform Accelerating Rural Access to Distributed and InteGrated Medical Care”) will cross multiple disciplines and aims to build smarter collaboration between different healthcare providers. Full details, including links to the federal solicitation and notices, are at the link above. You can sign up for the “Proposers Day” here.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a new proposal to curb bank overdraft fees. The full proposed rule is here(PDF), with a redline version here (PDF). The fact sheet is here (PDF). Comments can be submitted through April 1^st. A summary can be found here.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week on the ‘Chevron Deferrence’, an important federal rule making case that essentially gives federal agencies the authority to enact regulations. Should the Supreme Court overturn the doctrine, as appears likely, the impact for federal agency authority can be significant, although it will take time for the legal challenges to be mounted. A healthcare specific summary can be found here, while a more comprehensive legal summary can be found here.

FROM THE NOTEBOOK:

• The Kaiser Family Foundation explored the elimination of Medicaid Prescription Drug Rebate Cap and the impact it has had on manufacturers, beneficiaries, and Medicaid programs.

• Following up on the recent news about the FDA’s plan to allow Florida to import drugs from Canada, a look at the timeline and next steps.

• Deloitte released the results of a survey on generative AI in the workplace, finding that only 1 in 5 executives feel prepared for AI in the workplace. The full report can be downloaded here (PDF). Axios has a summary.

• With two reports this week (from Fortune and Arstechnica) focusing on private equity in hospitals, Stateline examined state legislative efforts to tackle private equity in healthcare.

• Roll Call explored the epidemic of SNF closures and what the policy implications.

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