Appropriations Update. On March 3, Congress released bill text for the CAA, 2024, which includes funding for six of the 12 appropriations bills: Agriculture-FDA, Military Construction-VA, Energy-Water, Transportation-HUD,...more
Senate HELP Committee Releases HIPAA Modernization White Paper: Sen. Cassidy (R-LA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee, released a white paper entitled “Strengthening Health...more
CONGRESS - House Republicans Elect New Speaker. After weeks of turmoil, the House elected Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as the new Speaker of the House on Wednesday with 220 votes secured on the floor. The House is now able to...more
Heading into the August Recess - This is the last week in session before Congress goes out for a six-week August recess. Before that, Congress is typically in a mad dash to advance bills. However, this year we are in a...more
The House and Senate were both in session this week, with healthcare activity at the committee level. The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on innovation and a markup of 15 healthcare bills. The Senate...more
In the Executive Order on An America-First Healthcare Plan, issued September 24, 2020, President Trump addressed, among other health care issues, the issue of surprise billing (also sometimes characterized as “balance...more
On October 2, 2018, the CEOs of more than 700 hospitals and health systems representing healthcare providers in all fifty states sent a letter to Congress (the “Letter”) in a collective effort to protect the 340B Drug Pricing...more
On Feb. 9, 2018, Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA). This wide-reaching legislation enacts major changes for telehealth policy in Medicare by incorporating...more
The Helping Ensure Low-income Patients have Access to Care and Treatment (HELP ACT) is the third 340B-related legislation to be introduced this month. The HELP ACT goes well beyond the 340B PAUSE Act in the scope of its...more
On March 22, 2016, the CFPB issued an Interim Final Rule (the “IFR”) amending the ability-to-repay (“ATR”) and qualified mortgage (“QM”) provisions of Regulation Z. The IFR, which implements a portion of the Helping Expand...more
As we have addressed, Congress passed the Helping Expand Lending Practices in Rural Communities Act of 2015 (HELP Act) on December 4, 2015, in efforts to expand the designation of additional areas as being "rural" under...more