Pritzker urges Congress to protect SNAP benefits
Roughly 427,000 Illinoisans could lose their benefits if Congress makes cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Gov. JB Pritzker said this week.
Trump Policies at Odds With ‘Make America Healthy Again’ Push
In his March address to Congress, President Trump honored a Texas boy diagnosed with brain cancer. Amid bipartisan applause, he vowed to drive down childhood cancer rates through his “Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)” initiative. A few days later, the administration quietly dropped a lawsuit to cut emissions from a Louisiana chemical plant linked to […]
With Shutdown Likely, Policy Experts Weigh Health Risks
Unless Congress acts to pass a spending package on or before September 30, the federal government is hurtling toward a shutdown. How will that affect federal healthcare programs? Stakeholders and policy experts, including former government officials, shared with MedPage Today their forecasts around which health programs and personnel might be most impacted by a shutdown […]
ERS Roundup: Cell Transplant Boosts Lung Function in COPD Patients
MILAN — Research presented at this year’s annual European Respiratory Society congress included early successes in transplanting a patient’s own lung cells to ease chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), idrevloride treatment for primary ciliary dyskinesia, and using ultrasounds as a guide for more comprehensive pulmonary embolism screening. Improved Gas Exchange Capacity in COPD Through Lung […]
Healthcare Mergers Need More Regulation and Oversight, Senators Told
Congress must act to rein in consolidation in the healthcare system while still encouraging competition, Shawn Martin of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) said Thursday during a Senate hearing. “A competitive healthcare marketplace benefits patients,” Martin, executive vice president and CEO of the AAFP, in Leawood, Kansas, said at a Senate Finance Committee […]
MedPAC Considers Reference Pricing and Other Ideas for Cutting Part B Drug Costs
Congress will need to use a multipronged approach to bring down prescription drug costs in the Medicare Part B program, members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) agreed at their March meeting on Thursday. MedPAC members discussed three draft recommendations being considered for inclusion in the commission’s June report to Congress. The recommendations addressed […]
Opinion | Patients Are Dying in Emergency Department Waiting Rooms
A special session of Congress was called 35 years ago to make lawmakers and the public aware of stories of patients left to die in hospital parking lots for lack of insurance. Around the time of that congressional testimony, called “Equal Access to Health Care: Patient Dumping,” a new guarantee came about: that any individual […]
Doc Groups Ask Congress to Extend Payment Bonus for Alternative Payment Models
WASHINGTON — Congress must extend Medicare’s payment bonus to doctors participating in alternative payment models (APMs) to incentivize them to continue, doctors and health policy experts said Thursday at a Capitol Hill briefing. “It’s not like you can go from fee-for-service today and then jump into an APM tomorrow,” said Kisha Davis, MD, MPH, vice […]
House Committee Advances Bill to Streamline Prior Authorization
WASHINGTON — In a moment of comity that’s becoming increasingly rare in Congress, the House Ways & Means Committee voted unanimously by voice vote to send to the House floor a bill to improve prior authorization procedures in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. “This kind of opportunity has become all too rare, and I hope that […]
What Will Ensure Rural Hospitals’ Survival? More $$ and Good Broadband, Experts Say
What do rural hospitals need from Congress and state legislatures to survive, besides more money? The answer is — more money, several experts and hospital lobbyists said Wednesday during a webinar sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center. Asked that question, George Pink, PhD, deputy director of the Rural Health Research Program at the University of […]