WHITE HOUSE:

The White House focused this week on the “Permitting Innovators Expo”, a new forum designed to encourage public-private partnership in permitting reform, the nomination of a new choice for Director of National Intelligence, and a follow-up to the First Lady’s new fostering the future accounts announcement from last week. One item of indirect interest:

• They released a new analysis from the White House’s Council on Economic Advisors on the effect that banning anti-competitive hospital contracts would have on healthcare pricing. The underlying idea is that hospitals are using contracts that limit patient choice, which leads to higher healthcare costs. The full memo is here (PDF).

CONGRESS:

As we head into the final week before the Senate departs for the July 4^th Holiday recess, frustrations in the chamber with the White House are heating up. The President’s erratic decision-making and timing is causing headaches for Senate Majority Leader John Thune as he navigates the tight Congressional calendar. The chaos in the Senate essentially means that any effort at a Reconciliation 3.0 will have to come from the House, which House Leadership wants to do. For now, Congress continues its slow burn to the dog days of summer. Elsewhere in DC:

• It’s not all stalled in Congress as they’re on track to pass a major bipartisan Housing reform bill. Here’s a good summary of what’s in the bill.

• The end of the legislative calendar means we’re moving, in earnest, into campaign season. With redistricting pretty much done, especially now that Georgia gave up its redistricting effort. Republicans think it’s upped their chances of keeping the House (PDF), even as polling has shifted 11 races in favor of the Democrats. On the Senate side, the path to Senate control runs through these 9 states.

• Speaking of Georgia, the gubernatorial race is set.

• New York heads to the primaries this Tuesday. Some of the races are quite heated. If you’re in the state, go vote!

• When you’re involved in advocacy, it’s not just Congress and the Administration that plays a role. Think tanks are quite important to the process.

• After big tech suffered a series of losses in the primaries, they’re rethinking their playbook.

• One interesting CRS report from the week, albeit from the political perspective. They provided a guide to Congressional offices on Federal Regional Commissions & Authorities (FRCA’s), which are regional agencies that function as a federal-state partnership in helping get healthcare resources to rural areas.

AGENCIES:

HHS announced the award of over $700 million to treat mental health and homelessness.

The OIG at HHS released an audit on CMS’ processes for ensuring accuracy of staffing information by SNF’s in PBJ reporting. The summary is here (PDF) and the full report is here (PDF).

After last week’s final rule announcing new oversight on accrediting organizations, CMS released a new QSO outlining the changes for state survey agencies. The QSO is here (PDF).

Way back in 1999, the Supreme Court ruled in Olmstead v. LC that states need to provide HCBS to individuals with disabilities. The ruling has served as an underpinning of funding for HCBS at the state level since then. This week, the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel released a new opinion memo that argues that states do NOT have to provide care at home for individuals with disabilities. The opinion memo can be found here (PDF). While not targeting SNF’s, this could have a major impact on how states fund their Medicaid programs, especially as we enter the era of tighter Medicaid budgets in the wake of OBBBA.

CMS released their latest guide deck (PDF) for states to ensure compliance with the requirements of OBBBA related to only providing Medicaid to eligible citizens.

The DOJ filed a lawsuit against New York over their process in choosing a new vendor for the state’s $10 billion CDPAP program.

The Department of Labor recovered over $500 million in fraudulent unemployment claims. Concurrent with the announcement the DOL sent letters to all governors demanding they do more to protect the programs from fraud.

In an interview with Politico, National Coordinator for Health IT Thomas Keane said that the agency is really starting to enforce rules related to data-sharing.

MedPAC released their June report to Congress with a heavy focus on MA, including the impact that MA has on post-acute care finances (PDF).  

FROM THE NOTEBOOK:

• Virginia inches closer to a new budget as the Senate and House reached a compromise over the weekend. The budget includes a three-year delay on rebasing and $70 million for SNF’s, among other changes. The deadline for the budget is June 30^th.

• Louisiana’s Department of Medicaid announced a new series of oversight measures to protect the state’s Medicaid program.

• Kaiser Health News did a deep dive into the tight controls the feds are placing on states as they roll out programs from the Rural Health Transformation Fund.               

• KFF explored the role that immigrants play in the provision of healthcare.            

• CalPERS is likely dropping United Healthcare after negotiations failed.

• Speaking of United Healthcare, they’re planning a $3 billion investment in AI.

• Eli Lily followed through on its threats to hospitals to cut off access to the 340B program if the hospitals weren’t more transparent with information.

• You know who’s really getting into AI? The Pentagon. They’re using generative AI to fill out the raft of reports required by Congress.                 

• Ohio Health agreed to a settlement with the DOJ to settle a lawsuit related to the DOJ’s suit against the system for anticompetitive contracts.

• It’s nice to remember that taking care of seniors is a truly rewarding profession.