There will be no digest next week. The digest will return on Monday, January 30^th, 2023.

WHITE HOUSE:

The White House focused this week on the Declaration of North American (DNA) as part of the 10^th meeting of the North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS), analyzing the latest inflation numbers and responding to the finding of classified documents at the President’s home. One item of interest for us:

• The Education Department released their proposed regulations related to the Administration’s student loan debt forgiveness plan. The NY Times has a solid explanation of the proposed regs, which can be found here. As this is something that can impact your staff, many of whom would benefit from the plan, they may appreciate hearing about the plan from you.

CONGRESS:

Following up on the contentious election of Congressman McCarthy as Speaker of the House, the House passed their initial “rules” package under the GOP. While procedural, the rules package establishes the baseline under which the House operates over the next two years. PBS has a solid summary of what’s included. For our purposes, the GOP control over the House, specifically the terms of the rules package related to appropriations, is going to cause major headaches related to government spending, with federal Medicare & Medicaid spending a key sticking point in the negotiations. A few other notes from Congress this week:

• Congresswoman Cathy McMorris-Rodgers was officially named the chair of the Energy & Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over HHS & CMS.

• Congressman Jason Smith of Missouri was named the Chairman of the Ways & Means Committee, which has jurisdiction on spending in the government. He did an interview on his priorities for the committee.

• Roll Call has a guide on the rest of the committee chairs for the upcoming Congress.

• Highlighting the fiscal struggle coming up, Secretary Yellen wrote a letter to Speaker McCarthy warning him that the United States would hit the debt limit as early as next week, triggering measures that the government will have to undertake to manage funding. You can access a copy of the letter here (PDF). Politico explored what the White House is doing to get ahead of the fight.

• As part of the Speakership fight, there may or may not be a document outlining the concessions that Speaker McCarthy made to secure the necessary votes. Regardless, the conservative flank of the GOP is positioned for outsized influence in the coming months.

• An interesting poll on America’s most popular and unpopular governors, which can affect how legislation is pursued at the state level.

• Finally, Congressman Katie Porter announced her intention to run for Senate in 2024, the first challenger to Senator Dianne Feinstein.

AGENCIES:

As expected, HHS Secretary Becerra extended the PHE this week and publicly affirmed that they would provide a 60-day notice before ending it. Considering the provisions in the omnibus bill that allow states to remove beneficiaries from their Medicaid programs, there are two primary ongoing benefits to the PHE extension:

• CMS continues to allow providers to utilize certain 1135 waivers (such as the 3-day stay, among others), which are tied to the PHE.

• Several states (most notably Texas) have a Medicaid Covid add-on that remains tied to the PHE.

A few other items from HHS this week:

• Along with other federal agencies, HHS released an updated rule related to faith-based discrimination. The proposed rule can be found at the Federal Register, where comments can be submitted for the next 60 days (through March 14^th).

• They announced the award of nearly $245 million for youth mental health programs.

• ASPE (the office of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation) released their January 2023 issue brief on health insurance coverage in the US. You can download a copy of the brief here (PDF).

CMS announced an expected timeline and next steps for Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug pricing. The goal is to have the first 10 Medicare part D drugs that will be part of the initial program for negotiation chosen by September 1^st. You can access copy of the timeline here and the overview of next steps here (both PDF).

Other:

On the non-agency front:

• The United Nations released their 2023 World Social Report. The report highlighted the world’s aging population and the need to ensure that there are systems in properly prepare. You can access a copy of the executive summary here (PDF). The full report can be accessed here.

• PHI, an organization represents the Direct Care workforce, created a state index that provides an overview of the direct care workforce situation in each state. It’s a useful tool that provides a perspective on the profile of workforce in each state.

• The GAO (Government Accountability Office) released a report calling on CMS to create reporting requirements for hospice agencies, similar to those covering skilled nursing facilities.

• NPR published a investigation into the rampant fraud within the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

• Finally both Time magazine and Marketwatch published reports on the staffing challenge facing the healthcare system.

Come meet the entire eCap Intel team at the upcoming eCap Summit in Florida from February 5th to 7th! For details, and to register, visit the eCap registration page.

Questions? Email us at support@myzpax.com.

z-INTEL WhatsApp info:

• Group Invite Link: https://chat.whatsapp.com/EoNiPi8ezrOBV6SW1Gf7nD
• Status Link: https://wa.me/message/WMSWZATTB5D6E1