from AcademyHealth Blog at https://bit.ly/3VV9uzS on June 25, 2024 at 03:58PM
Appropriators readying public release of Labor-HHS funding bills – Read on Washington’s June 2024 Advocacy Update
AcademyHealth will be hosting the Annual Research Meeting in Baltimore from June 28-July 2
The AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (ARM) will be held at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland on June 29 – July 2, 2024. The 2024 ARM will feature the most cutting-edge research to come out of the fields of health services research (HSR) and health policy and highlight hot topics to watch in the year ahead. Registration is still open, and more information is available here.
Among the many great health policy conversations that will be happening, AcademyHealth’s advocacy team will be hosting a session on “How does Congress fund research? A conversation with top health policy advocates” on Monday, July 1 at 1:45 PM.
Congress continues to move on different appropriation pathways
The House Appropriations Committee is expected to release their FY25 Labor-HHS funding bill on Wednesday, June 26. The current calendar assumes that the Labor-HHS Subcommittee will mark up the bill on June 27, the Full Committee marking up on July 10, and consideration on the House Floor the week of July 29. This bill is not expected to receive any Democratic support as it includes an expected 18 percent cut on average to programs it funds. The House Appropriations Committee was unable to pass the FY24 Labor-HHS bill from the full Committee due to extreme cuts in priorities favored by Members from both parties.
The Senate Appropriations Committee continues to try a bipartisan approach in negotiations, with current debates centering around both the total nondefense funding level and the final allocation among the Subcommittees. The expectation is that the Committee will move fairly quickly in considering all 12 bills as soon as the spending allocations are finalized internally.
AHRQ National Advisory Council meeting at ARM
The National Advisory Council for AHRQ will be meeting in person and virtually on June 28-29, coinciding with the Annual Research Meeting. This public meeting will include comments from Director Robert Valdez, AcademyHealth President and CEO Aaron Carroll, AHRQ Chief Strategy Officer Arlene Bierman, and more, and will provide an opportunity for attendees in person and online to comment on AHRQ’s priorities.
Health Expenditures expected to outpace GDP growth
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released projections estimating that health care spending growth is expected to significantly outpace GDP growth, with health as a share of GDP reaching 19.7 percent by 2032, up from 17.3 percent in 2022. CMS expects Medicaid enrollment to decline significantly as states rollback their programs, and that private health insurance enrollment will crease due to the extension of subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Health care spending grew at 7.5 percent in 2023, higher than the 6.5 percent GDP growth. CMS estimates that health care spending will average 5.6% a year from 2023 to 2032 compared to a nominal GDP growth rate of 4.3% over that period.
Medical providers winning most surprise billing arbitration
Data from CMS has found that providers were the prevailing party in about 82 percent of payment determinations made in the No Surprises Act arbitration in the last half of 2023. Median arbitration awards for most services were between 200 percent and 600 percent of the median in-network rate, indicating that the process is not working as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated when projecting that the process would keep disputed bills close to the in-network rate.
Congress considering bills to reduce improper Medicaid payments
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified in April that about $50.3 billion, or 8.6 percent of all Medicaid payments, were made improperly last year. Now, lawmakers including Reps. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) have introduced a series of bills that would force the CMS to address these vulnerabilities head on. The legislation includes measures to verify beneficiaries’ eligibility quarterly and ensure they are alive (H.R. 8084), screen out medical providers who have died (H.R. 8089) or have been terminated from Medicaid (H.R. 8112), and confirm beneficiaries are not enrolled in multiple states (H.R. 8111). All four bills advanced unanimously during a markup by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Senate Finance Committee pushing HHS on healthcare cybersecurity
In a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) urged the agency to use existing authorities to require healthcare organizations to improve their cybersecurity practices. He noted that the current HHS approach of allowing the health sector to self-regulate cybersecurity is insufficient and fails to protect patient health information. Chairman Wyden said that “HHS’ failure to regulate the cybersecurity practices of major health care providers like UHG resulted in what the American Hospital Association has described as the worst cyberattack against the healthcare sector in U.S. history."
MACPAC calls on Congress to require states to better account for their Medicaid funding
The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, or MACPAC, sent a report to Congress recommending that federal lawmakers require states to submit an annual report on their Medicaid financing methods, including how states structure taxes on providers and how much funding comes from those taxes. States should also break down contributions on a provider-by-provider level. The Commission also explored pathways for better coordinating care for patients who are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare.
What we’re reading:
The premier source of information for Congress is the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which produces timely, objective, and authoritative research and analysis to the House and Senate. Recently, CRS published its first report on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)’s budget, indicating that they were getting more questions about how the Agency is funded.
As the health system continues to try to solve widespread burnout among RNs, some hospitals have turned to “team nursing” models that use fewer RNs as supervisors of teams of lower-wage health care workers. Lasater et al wrote in Medical Care that this model may actually lead to worse patient health outcomes. They found that a 10 percent decrease in RNs would result in almost 11,000 more deaths. The researchers recommend that hospitals focus on improving the working environment for RNs and engaging the causes of burnout.
Rural health care in the US is in a crisis, as hospitals close and providers shutdown. NPR went to a Georgia town to see how people were experiencing this crisis at the ground floor. They found that at a rural health clinic that one primary care doctor was booked out over two months in advance to try and meet demand, and discussed his concerns that he is becoming inaccessible to patients. Other conversations included a lack of behavioral health care in the city.
Results for America released an evaluation policy guide targeting state and local policymakers on how to best incorporate evidence in their policymaking. This guide is helpful not just for people in government, but also for advocates seeking ways to better communicate their priorities.
Following the data access policy announcement by CMS in February that would severely restrict access to the data used by many health services researchers, AcademyHealth launched an aggressive and successful advocacy effort to support the needs of researchers and patients. You can read more about our advocacy strategy that led to CMS pausing implementation and focusing on listening to researchers and other stakeholders here.
ChristinaT
Health Econ Bot 