Washington DC Update News
Below are recent articles from the Washington DC Update newsletter, a weekly Family Voices newsletter that provides the latest on national policy affecting children/youth with special health care needs and their families, and also shares relevant resources and happenings in the field.
Congress: Maternal and Child Health Legislation
On June 26, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) approved two bills intended to improve maternal and child health. The Maternal Health Accountability Act (S. 1112) would establish a new grant program administered by CDC to provide...
Congress: FY 2019 Appropriations
Update: The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, and Education approved its version of the bill to fund those agencies in FY 2019, and the full committee approved the bill the next day. (See the committee report.) As reported in last week’s Update, the...
CMS Guidance on Medicaid Coverage of Drugs Approved by the FDA under Its “Accelerated Approval Pathway”
On June 27, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) released guidance to states through State Release #185, titled State Medicaid Coverage of Drugs Approved by the FDA under Accelerated Approval Pathway. The...
CMS announces initiatives to strengthen Medicaid program integrity
On June 26, CMS announced ways that it would seek to strengthen program integrity. See CMS Launches Slate of Initiatives Aimed at Curbing Fraud, Waste in Medicaid (FierceHealthcare, 6/26/18).
Informational Bulletin on Medicaid Home and Community-based Services
As announced on June 28, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an Informational Bulletin on ensuring the health and welfare of individuals receiving Medicaid-funded Home and Community Based Services (HCBS). The Centers for Medicaid & CHIP...
CMS Rejects Massachusetts Request to Restrict Medicaid Drug Formulary
The Massachusetts Medicaid program asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to waive several different requirements of Medicaid law pursuant to the federal government’s waiver authority granted in section 1115 of the Social Security Act. Among the...
Of Possible Interest: 7/3/2018
Teaching Parents of Kids with Disabilities to Fight Back (NPR, 6/29/18, text and audio) – story about the Partners in Policymaking program.
Greetings from Washington: Washington Update, June 27, 2018 Summary
The big issue in DC is still the separation of immigrant children from their families at the southwest US border, or more precisely, how to reunite them. In order to gain sufficient support for ways to address this and other immigration issues, the House has postponed...
Medicaid Plays a Critical Role in Caring for Infants Exposed to Opiods or Other Drugs in Utero
A Georgetown Center on Children and Families blog post explains the recent Informational Bulletin to states about Medicaid coverage of services for neonatal abstinence syndrome.
Of Possible Interest
Sky-High Deductibles Broke the U.S. Health Insurance System (Bloomberg, 6/26/18) How will marketplace premiums change in 2019? It depends where you live. (Kaiser Family Foundation, 6/21/18)
Encourage confidence to act