In observance of the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, next week's digest will be published on Wednesday, September 28^th.

WHITE HOUSE:

The White House focused this week on averting a national rail strike, a brand new framework to govern digital assets (like cryptocurrency and NFT’s) and more climate change efforts, including an expansion of their “buy clean” initiative. For our purposes, three items of note:

• We’ve discussed getinternet.gov before; a site dedicated to helping rural and low-income families access high-speed internet. This week, they launched a back-to-school initiative to help spread the word. Many of the staff and residents in rural and disadvantaged communities are likely eligible for the program and would likely appreciate hearing about the programs.

• They announced more than $2 billion dollars in new funding opportunities in biotech and biomanufacturing fields. If you are involved in companies that are on the cutting edge in these areas, there may be funding available for your projects.

• Nothing immediate to do, but something to keep an eye on: They announced a new Executive Order on national security criteria related to foreign investment in the US.

CONGRESS:

With Congress laser focused on the spending bill that must pass before September 30^th (or risk government shutdown), most other legislation is going to be on the back burner. One interesting item did pass the House this week; a bill that would streamline the prior authorization process in MA plans. Passing unanimously with 326 cosponsors, the bill now heads to the Senate where it is likely to get caught in the time crunch before the Midterms.

The House Ways & Means Committee released an extensive report on climate change and the role that facility based providers play. The report, title “Health Care and the Climate Crisis: Preparing America’s Health Care Infrastructure”, can be accessed at the committee page here.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing advocating for immigration solutions to the healthcare workforce shortage. The hearing, titled “Flatlining Care: Why Immigrants Are Crucial to Bolstering Our Health Care Workforce” can be seen here.

A few items on the elections front:

• Politico did a post-mortem on primary season, highlighting a few points that have been emerging all along: Republican candidate quality poses a serious risk to their efforts to take back the Senate.

• We’ve discussed polling at length and the implications for the Midterms. Considering recent elections, there’s a legitimate question of how reliable polling is. A bit wonky, but here’s two perspectives on the issue: one saying that the warning signs are there; one saying the polls are more reliable this time around.

AGENCIES:

On Friday, HHS released a behaviorial roadmap outlining the Administration’s strategies to better provide mental health care, including training for SNF staff, on mental health issues. You can access a copy here (PDF).

The Office of Head Start (the agency within HHS that oversees programs for children of low-income families) announced Friday that they are no longer going to require masks for grant recipients. Hopefully, this indicates that HHS is recognizing that universal masking isn’t the best policy right now and will extend to our settings.

CMS released a few new data trends that may be of interest to some of you:

• A new analysis on telehealth use by Medicare beneficiaries: Medicare Telehealth Trends - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Data (cms.gov)

• They also released a “data highlight” on the usage by Medicare beneficiaries of dental, vision and hearing services. You can access it here (PDF).

• Finally, they released the transcript from the most recent webinar on “unwinding the PHE”, their term for how to navigate Medicaid beneficiaries following the end of the PHE. You can access it here (PDF).

The Congressional Research Service published several reports of interest to us this week. As the CRS reports can act as basis for further Congressional action, it’s a valuable tool to keep track of.

• Breaking down the Supreme Court decision earlier this year on the 340B hospital drug rebate program. PDF available here.

• Breaking down the Supreme Court decision earlier this year allowing health plans to limit dialysis coverage. PDF available here.

• A breakdown on the different drug discount programs available for the public. PDF available here.

The Department of Homeland Security announced $1 billion in funding for to help state & local governments strengthen their cybersecurity infrastructure. While specifically meant for government entities, given the past breaches of cybersecurity in the healthcare world, this is a welcome development.

MISCELLANEOUS:

In the non-agency news of the week:

• Google announced this week that to ease health equity issues they are incorporating more information related to Medicare & Medicaid eligibity and access in their search results. I don’t know if this will impact SEO and other items related to advertising.

• Politico ran a special report on four non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and how they influenced the world’s response to Covid. It’s a fascinating look at how the public health response to Covid was shaped.

• JAMA released a study that implies that MA plans are less prone to spending on “low-value” care vs. traditional Medicare. You can access a copy here (Direct Download - PDF).

• We mentioned in the past an effort by the National Governor’s Assocation to work on the healthcare workforce shortage. They launched another effort this week to share best practices in recruitment, retention and training of healthcare workers.

• Health Affairs published a study this week suggesting that D-SNP’s did not provide better outcomes than traditional Medicare or MA plans.

• The workforce crisis transcends borders. The NY Times reported on emergency room closings in Canada because they don’t have sufficient nurses.

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