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This week’s “Capitol Hill Healthcare Update” includes the latest on a series of healthcare bills scheduled for House votes, including one to repeal the medical device tax; Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins’ scheduled testimony on before a House committee; reaction from congressional leaders to the Trump administration’s plan to import drugs from other countries; and more.
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HOUSE PANEL TO EXAMINE POTENTIAL CHANGES TO STARK LAW
Senior Health and Human Services (HHS) officials are scheduled to testify this week before a House subcommittee examining whether laws governing physician self-referral are an impediment to coordinated care.
HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan and Deputy General Counsel Kelly Cleary are scheduled to testify Tuesday before the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee.
Subcommittee Chairman Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) has said the physician self-referral law, or “Stark Law,” impedes value-based reforms that reward better outcomes and higher-value care.
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LAWMAKERS COOL TO TRUMP PLAN ON HHS, GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION
The response from lawmakers on Capitol Hill to the White House plan to reorganize the federal government – including proposed changes to multiple healthcare agencies – ranged from lukewarm to outright opposition.
President Donald J. Trump’s plan would rebrand Health and Human Services (HHS) as the “Department of Health and Public Welfare.” It would consolidate certain welfare and nutrition assistance programs, now run by the Agriculture Department, into the new department.
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HOUSE OKs DOZENS OF OPIOID-RELATED BILLS; MORE VOTES SCHEDULED
The House last week approved 38 bills that lawmakers hope will stem the opioid epidemic, and it scheduled votes this week on at least a dozen more.
Most bills were noncontroversial, and others thought to be contentious – like giving the Postal Service more tools to track foreign mail shipments into the United States – easily won House approval.
House Republicans plan more votes on opioid bills this week. Then GOP leaders will package the individual bills into one comprehensive measure to send to the Senate.
Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee last week approved a combined package with 22 provisions that aim to crack down on opioid abuse and expand access to treatment. The bill would expand telehealth coverage, standardize electronic prior authorizations and remove Medicaid lifetime limits for substance abuse treatment.
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HOUSE TO VOTE ON DOZENS OF OPIOID BILLS WHILE SENATE READIES COMPREHENSIVE MEASURE
The House this week will begin considering some of the 70 different opioid bills that have been approved by eight different committees, focusing on prescribing, enforcement, and Medicare and Medicaid coverage of treatment options.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced last week that several dozen noncontroversial bills will be considered either by voice vote or under expedited procedures that require supermajorities to pass but allow House leaders to move them quickly. Other bills – like relaxing health privacy rules for drug abuse treatment records and allowing Medicaid to cover in-patient drug rehab costs – will be debated on the House floor, with opportunities for amendments.
Bills receiving votes this week include establishing a new category of synthetic opioids and other drugs under the Controlled Substances Act, allowing low-income housing vouchers to be used to aid recovering addicts, and increasing the tracking of parcels and mail into the United States.
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RYAN SAYS POTENTIAL COMPROMISE COMING ON RISK EVALUATION AND MITIGATION STRATEGY DRUGS
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., last week said congressional leaders are trying to hammer out compromise legislation that would make it easier for generic manufacturers to obtain branded drugs that are protected under a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) safety program.
Ryan made the comment about the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) safety program during BakerHostetler’s 29th annual Legislative Seminar last week. Ryan didn’t offer specifics but said leaders on the House Energy and Commerce and Judiciary committees were working on compromise language that would speed generic manufacturers’ access to those drugs for bioequivalence testing.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released its proposed rules for the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) for fiscal year (FY) 2019. As discussed below, the proposed rule focuses on promoting interoperability to reduce administrative burdens, increase efficiency and improve patient access while providing high-quality patient care. Comments on the proposed rule are due June 25, 2018.
Electronic Health Records (EHR) Program Update
CMS proposed significant changes to the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Programs. For starters, it renamed the program to Promoting Interoperability (PI) Programs to better reflect its focus on interoperability and improving patient access to health information. To maintain alignment across programs, CMS noted that the name change applies to the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System Advancing Care Information performance category.
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LAWMAKERS PRAISE, CRITICIZE TRUMP PLAN ON DRUG PRICES
On Capitol Hill, reaction to President Donald Trump’s “American Patients First” plan to bring down prescription drug prices fell predictably along partisan lines: Republicans generally praised it, while Democrats criticized it for not going nearly far enough.
Republicans weren’t effusive in their support, but House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, praised Trump for “leading the charge” to lower drug prices. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., “applauded” Trump for “working to lower the cost of important medications.”
After Trump backed away from proposing that Medicare negotiate prices with drug companies – something he campaigned on in 2016 – Democrats sharply criticized the president. “I think very expensive champagne will be popping in drug company boardrooms across the country tonight,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
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GOP LAWMAKERS: EUROPE, CANADA ‘FREE RIDING’ ON US DRUG INNOVATION
More than two dozen House Republicans last week called on President Donald Trump to leverage upcoming trade negotiations to stop other nations from “free riding” on U.S. pharmaceutical innovations.
In a letter to Trump, Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., wrote that foreign government price controls, market access barriers and theft of intellectual property undermine U.S. companies and place an unfair burden on American patients. The letter, which was signed by 27 House Republicans, singled out Germany, France, Japan, Australia and Canada as countries whose policies effectively force U.S. patients to shoulder a disproportionate share of research and development costs.
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AZAR ILLNESS DELAYS WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCEMENT ON DRUG PRICING INITIATIVE
Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar is recovering at his home in Indianapolis following his second hospitalization in less than a week to treat a bowel condition, delaying a scheduled Trump administration announcement this week on initiatives to control prescription drug prices.
The White House on Sunday announced it was postponing this week’s event, saying it would be rescheduled for the “near future.” A senior White House aide last week said the announcement is now tentatively scheduled for May 8 but could be delayed further because of President Donald Trump’s official and political travel scheduled for next month.
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