Creator: JJ Rabinowich
SNF Digest #188
From the White House to Congress to the regulatory agencies, JJ gives you the inside word on what is what for this week.
WHITE HOUSE:
Over the last week, the White House focused on an Executive Order that issues new childhood vaccine recommendations, a National Security Presidential Memorandum that gives law enforcement the power to use new cyber tools to combat cyber-crime, and more tariffs, this time on drones.
CONGRESS:
With Congress out on summer recess, we’re gonna go straight to the political roundup:
Early indications are that the House is looking favorably at the government funding bill the Senate passed before they left.
As we get closer to the midterms, both parties are leaning into messaging. One item high on the GOP list? Their efforts to take on health insurers.
The Democratic establishment had a rare win this season with David Crowley taking the Wisconsin Democratic primary.
It was the second week in a row that the polling was completely unreliable, following last week’s close results in Michigan, highlighting the uncertainty inherent in polling.
On the Republican side, the glow of a Presidential endorsement is waning.
Congressional usage of AI is growing, especially among the staff.
A good, in-depth profile on the likely next governor of California.
The Washington Post did an early prospective on 2028 Presidential contenders.
Politics really does create the strangest allies. It looks like conservative Senate Republicans and Senator Elizabeth Warren are finding common ground.
A busy week of CRS reports that are relevant:
R46797: The latest updated guide on where to find Medicare FFS payment rules.
IF12352: Background on the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), which is the office in charge of creating the nation’s health IT network.
R49126: A guide to expiring health provisions in different portions of federal law.
RS20946: A look at Medicare’s insolvency projections.
LSB11467: A guide on the latest in state liability frameworks for the usage of health AI.
AGENCIES:
The Treasury Department released the final rule that ended the FinCEN ownership reporting requirements. The final rule was published to the Federal Register. They also released FAQ’s (PDF) on the rule.
The Treasury Department released new guidance on how to create employer sponsored programs for contribution to Trump accounts.
The ASPE published new research on state-directed payments, provider taxes, and the impact that cutting them will have on federal expenses. The paper is here (PDF).
In an op-ed, CMS Administrator Dr. Oz highlighted CMS’s latest fraud prevention efforts.
HHS, via HRSA, announced more than $100 million in awards to expand health centers throughout the country.
HHS, together with the Office of National Drug Control, and HUD, created a new toolkit to help communities deal with addiction and homelessness. The toolkit is here (PDF).
HHS announced that AHA has joined in the Make Hospital Food Healthier pledge on behalf of many of its member health systems.
HHS, via ACF, awarded $6 million in grants to 10 jurisdictions to help them deploy predictive analytics for case management in child welfare risk management.
FROM THE NOTEBOOK:
3 useful reports from KFF this week:
An analysis of prior authorization practices by insurers.
A look at the 37 states with Medicaid State Directed payments that will be impacted by last year’s Reconciliation law. The full study is here.
An update on their deep dive into the more than $13 billion that Medicare will spend on the quality bonus program within MA.
More employers than ever are dropping out of the largest PBMs. The full survey can be accessed here.
PHRMA announced that many of its members are committing to show TrumpRX pricing to patients.
Virginia released new guidance on when the department may consider imposing sanctions on SNF’s. Public comments can be submitted through September 9th.
The Brookings Institute posted a white paper on different ways to modernize traditional FFS Medicare.
The American Economic Liberties Project, a left-leaning think tank, released a new brief on banning prior authorization. The full paper can be accessed here (PDF).
Looks like insurance companies like to employ the “delay, delay, delay tactic” in every field: A new study found that home insurers earn nearly $9 million a day in interest and investment income for every day they delay a claim payment.
