Kidney Care Partners calls for a legislative and regulatory overhaul of renal disease treatment, including changes to the Medicare end-stage renal disease prospective payment system, an expansion of the Medicare Kidney Disease Education benefit, an extension of Medigap access for those with kidney disease and an HHS study on the social, behavioral and biological factors that lead to the disease.

Several stakeholder groups are pushing the Senate health committee to change the committee’s methodology or payment rate for out-of-network bills in the lead-up to the markup of the legislation.

President Donald Trump on Monday (June 24) signed legislation that reups critical hazard preparedness programs at HHS. Stakeholders applauded the signing of the bill, which has been in limbo for months as several HHS pandemic preparedness authorities expired last year when the Senate failed to pass the legislation before the 115th session of Congress came to a close.

The Supreme Court sided with plaintiffs in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case that consumer advocacy groups had warned could have wide-ranging consequences for those that want to obtain information from the government, as it could tighten restrictions on what information can be released and virtually dry up data the groups have obtained from agencies such as FDA.

The House Ways & Means Committee will mark up five health care bills on Wednesday (June 26), including a new bill to expand telehealth services and fund the National Quality Forum and the State Health Insurance Programs, a bill that would eliminate cost-sharing responsibilities for chronic care services under Medicare, and a bill to extend funding to the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund.

FDA on Friday (June 21) formally scrapped its hidden database of safety incidents associated with certain medical devices and said it will beef up its public reporting program instead.