Perspectives on Federal & State Health Policy

Health Care Partner Stephanie Trunk will present at the Healthcare Distribution Alliance’s (HDA) 2023 Distribution Management Conference on March 13.

On January 23, 2023 the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau released a Declaratory Ruling addressing a request for clarification submitted by US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Since the US Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (Dobbs) in June 2022, the impact of the Court’s decision continues to ripple across the health care delivery system. In this multi-part series, we will examine key components of a risk assessment framework,

On November 18, 2022, a collection of organizations and providers that oppose abortion filed suit against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), seeking — among other things — a permanent injunction.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the first in what undoubtedly will be a series of guidance documents regarding the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 

Health Care Partner Stephanie Trunk will present twice at the Informa Medicaid Drug Rebate Program Summit on October 12-14.

In response to multiple requests from California hospital industry members, the California Court of Appeal ordered publication of its decision in Bonni v. St. Joseph Health System et al. This important decision is a victory for peer reviewers because it establishes significant protections.

A pair of reports recently issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) highlight the important role telehealth services have played in ensuring access to medical services and care for Medicare beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On August 19, 2022, the US Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury, as well as the Office of Personnel Management, released a highly-anticipated final rule clarifying the procedures and considerations for resolving disputes related to surprise medical bills.

In an effort to reorganize, the New York Department of Health (NYDOH) has formed a new Office of Aging & Long Term Care (OALTC), which would oversee long term care and senior living facilities in New York.

After many years of policy debate and attempts at proposed legislation, some of the most meaningful changes to the ways in which Medicare pays for prescription drugs – and the obligations of manufacturers selling drugs to Medicare beneficiaries - have finally come to pass.

In a newly filed lawsuit against the State of Idaho, the federal government argues that Idaho’s “near-total ban on abortion,” scheduled to take effect on August 25, 2022, overreaches by prohibiting abortion even where federal law may require physicians to perform an emergency abortion.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its annual proposed rule related to the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems for 2023 (the HOPPS Proposed Rule) on July 26, 2022.

In Khoiny v. Dignity Health, the California Court of Appeal held that hospital residency programs are primarily employment programs and medical residents are primarily employees. Therefore, courts should not give special deference to residency programs’ termination decisions.

The US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) declaration that COVID-19 remains a public health emergency (PHE) will continue through July 15, 2022, and is expected to be renewed again through October 13, 2022.

Health Care Partner Stephanie Trunk will give a presentation and participate in a Fireside Chat about policy updates surrounding transparency and reporting requirements at the 2022 Informa Connect Medicaid & Government Pricing Congress.

Health Care Partner Stephanie Trunk will co-chair the American Conference Institute’s 20th Annual Rx Drug Pricing Boot Camp, providing intensive training in the essentials and complexities of pricing calculations, rebates, and reporting under Medicaid, Medicare, and PHS 340B Programs.

Some commentators have misinterpreted the Bichai decision to mean that a medical staff and its affiliated hospital are entirely independent of each other. In reality, the two entities are practically and legally interdependent. 

On February 22, 2022, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced that vaccinated health care workers with documented recent infection will be allowed to defer booster shot by up to 90 days from infection.

Health Care Partner Stephanie Trunk is presenting at the Healthcare Distribution Alliance’s 2022 Distribution Management Conference on March 8.

On February 23, 2022, in what is being heralded as a significant victory for health care providers, a federal court in Texas vacated portions of the Biden Administration’s rules governing the arbitration procedures to resolve surprise billing disputes under the federal No Surprises Act (the Act).

Health Care Practice Leader Douglas Grimm and Senior Government Relations Director Oliver Spurgeon will present at CTeL’s Digital Health Summit on June 9, 2021.

On September 25, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it streamlined the federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certification process for laboratories applying to perform COVID-19 testing.

In a new final rule released on April 9, 2018, CMS is allowing states substantially more flexibility in selecting Essential Health Benefits (EHB)-benchmark plans for the 2020 plan year.

Recently, the Health Resources and Services Administration released a new addendum to amend the existing Pharmaceutical Pricing Agreements that drug manufacturers participating in the 340B Drug Pricing Program must have in place with the Secretary of Health and Human Services.