On July 17, the Senate approved a House-passed bill to delay for one year (until January 1, 2020) the implementation of a requirement that Medicaid agencies adopt “electronic visit verification” (EVV) for personal care services provided at an individual’s home. The...

As reported by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the House passed several bipartisan health-related bills this week: The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (R. 1676), which would direct HHS to award grants to improve the training of...

On July 20, House Democrats launched a "Medicare-for-All" congressional caucus with the intention of educating other lawmakers and staff on the basics of a government-run, single-payer health care system, and of examining how other such systems operate in other...

On July 17, the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services issued a State Medicaid Directors letter (SMD # 18-007) setting forth detailed directions to states for implementing the requirements of Section 5006 of the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act). Section 5006 of the...

Kentucky Waiver As reported in the July 3 Washington Update (under “Courts”), a federal court vacated the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) approval of a Kentucky Medicaid waiver proposal to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries. The ruling...

Trump Administration Preparing Fix for Obamacare Risk Payments (Bloomberg, 7/19/18) As reported earlier, the administration announced that it would no longer pay insurance companies the risk-adjustment payments established by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These...

FEDVIP is Coming: Get to Know Dental and Vision Plans Today (TRICARE Benefit Update, 7/17/18)

On July 19, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that Secretary Alex Azar requested FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to establish a working group to examine how to safely import prescription drugs from other countries in the event of a dramatic...

In August, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will launch the Care Coordination for CSHCN Challenge – a competition intended to encourage the creation of tech innovations to help families and case managers with the care and coordination of...

The congressionally-created Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), just completed an issue brief -- Access in Brief: Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs—which compares the characteristics of children and youth with special health care...