On June 28, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court overturned the longstanding Chevron doctrine, under which courts generally granted deference to a federal agency’s reasonable interpretation of ambiguous...more
7/9/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Corner Post Inc v Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Government Agencies ,
Healthcare ,
Judicial Authority ,
Life Sciences ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Regulatory Authority ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation
Key Points - GLP-1 agonists have ushered in a new era in anti-obesity medication policy considerations against the backdrop of a continued focus by policymakers on both drug access and pricing. CMS has taken steps to clarify...more
5/29/2024
/ Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Modernization Act ,
Medicare Part D ,
National Institute of Health (NIH) ,
Orange Book ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry
On April 29, 2024, the Office of the Federal Register placed on display the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) final rule on the regulation of laboratory developed tests (LDTs). Set to be officially published on May 6, this...more
The upcoming election, and the approaching end of the President’s four-year term, introduce additional dynamics into the agencies’ rulemaking process and even the guidance process. From now through the November election, the...more
4/25/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
GAO ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
HRSA ,
Laboratory Developed Tests ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
NIST ,
Nursing Homes ,
OIG ,
OIRA ,
OMB ,
Payment Systems ,
PHI ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Presidential Elections ,
Proposed Guidance ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Rulemaking Process
On April 4, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Contract Year (CY) 2025 Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare Part D Policy and Technical Changes final rule (“Final Rule”), which included revisions...more
On February 8, 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a memorandum from the Quality, Safety & Oversight Group (QSOG) updating its 2018 guidance on texting patient information among healthcare...more
On December 13, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) published a wide-ranging final rule, Health Data, Technology, and...more
This week marks the one-year anniversary since the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which included sweeping reforms empowering the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to set prices for certain...more
8/16/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Biosimilars ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Generic Drugs ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Life Sciences ,
Medicare ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Regulatory Agenda
Congress is taking a closer look at business practices in the health care sector and considering bipartisan reforms in light of increasing consolidation and its perceived affects on patient access and affordability. Various...more
On April 18, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) published a far-reaching proposed rule, Health Data, Technology, and...more
Are Accelerated Approval Drugs a New Target for Cost Reductions? As outlined in our prior analysis, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included sweeping drug pricing reforms for the Medicare program and the Biden-Harris...more
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), P.L. 117-169, which became law on August 16th, included some of the most consequential prescription drug pricing reforms ever passed by Congress. This week marked a pivotal milestone in the...more
Key Points -
The Supreme Court invalidated 2018 and 2019 cuts to Medicare reimbursement rates for hospital outpatient drugs acquired through the 340B Drug Pricing Program, effectively reinstating the default rate of ASP...more
Key Points -
U.S. hospitals, health systems, suppliers, pharmaceutical companies and other industry stakeholders are invited to submit voluntary pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase their climate...more
For the past two years, the United States government has had to deal with most major legislative and regulatory actions against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. In making policy, the federal government has been forced,...more
[co-author: Christina Barone]
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the “bill”) is historic bipartisan legislation that will make available $1.2 trillion in funding for infrastructure programs across the...more
Background on Cures 2.0 -
The COVID-19 pandemic response demonstrated the tremendous impact innovation can have on a global scale. The unprecedented experiences of the past year and a half have spurred renewed interest in...more
In this debut episode of OnAir: Health Care, Akin Gump health care senior policy advisor Matthew Hittle and consultant Dr. Mario Ramirez welcome partner Kelly Cleary to discuss health policy, medical science and Washington...more
4/14/2021
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Health Care Providers ,
Medicaid ,
New Guidance ,
Physicians ,
Vaccinations
On February 17, 2021, it was reported that President Biden would nominate Chiquita Brooks-LaSure as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the largest operating division of the U.S. Department of...more
President-elect Biden’s agenda and approach for his first 100 days in office will depend to a large degree on which party controls the United States Senate. Many of the incoming President’s major campaign promises—such as...more
11/24/2020
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Biden Administration ,
Cole Memorandum ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Opioid ,
Public Policy ,
Regulatory Agenda
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. In a pre-holiday flurry, the Trump Administration has released four long-awaited health care policies impacting a wide range of health industry participants.
On the drug pricing front, the...more
11/23/2020
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Beneficiary Inducement ,
Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Final Rules ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Medicare Part B ,
Most-Favored Nations ,
OIG ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Stark Law ,
Trump Administration ,
Value-Based Care
In this episode, Akin Gump health care partners Kelly Cleary and Robert Salcido discuss the health care industry and how COVID-19 has impacted the industry and affected or driven legislative and regulatory activity.
Among...more
9/22/2020
/ CARES Act ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Drug Pricing ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Physicians ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Stark Law ,
Telehealth ,
Telemedicine
- HHS is overhauling its process for developing interpretive guidance documents under a new Proposed Rule.
- HHS proposes to no longer use “guidance documents” to establish broadly applicable legal obligations on the...more
9/15/2020
/ Administrative Review ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Guidance Documents ,
Judicial Review ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Request For Information ,
Rulemaking Process
- The proposed rule seeks to “demolish the existing bureaucratic barriers that have created a ‘valley of death’ for innovative products.”
- A new Medicare Coverage of Innovative Technology (MCIT) pathway would allow...more
- As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the clamor for liability protections for the nation’s health care providers continues.
- Although there are serious political divisions, the COVID Phase 4 relief legislation may...more
8/7/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Immunity ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Liability ,
Long Term Care Facilities ,
Nursing Homes ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Legislation