Wednesday’s (Nov. 29) House Energy & Commerce health subcommittee hearing on the use of artificial intelligence in health care raised new issues on CMS’ reimbursement of the technology and possible new ways for lawmakers to wrap their heads around AI, while refining existing questions on the tech like the need for a national data privacy framework and ensuring demographic representation in the training of the models to promote health equity. At E&C’s fourth hearing this year on artificial intelligence, lawmakers...

A proposal in the 2025 draft exchange rule that would allow states to add adult dental services as an essential health benefit (EHB) is being cheered by advocates who have been calling on the administration to boost oral health care coverage. The draft rule doesn’t add a requirement for plans or states, but it would remove a prohibition on adding adult dental as an EHB that had been in effect for the last decade. Several sources point out that while...

About 2,300 of the 5,800 MA plans, or 40%, are offering supplemental benefits in 2024, according to recent data analyzed by ATI Advisory. The overall number and percentage of plans offering SSBCI has increased, but not at the same rapid pace as in prior years. The data for 2024 are contextualized by ATI’s ongoing concerns with a scarcity of data on supplemental benefits. Tyler Cromer, a principal at consulting firm ATI Advisory, along with Sara Rayel, director of health care...

FDA announced it is withdrawing from the Asia-led international organization that works on medical device regulatory coordination, the Global Harmonization Working Party (GHWP), citing concerns about the lack of representation for international regulators, decision-making processes dominated by industry stakeholders, and use of documents duplicated from other groups. The announcement indicates that the United States will focus instead on international regulatory efforts through the International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF), of which it is a founding member. FDA’s top medical device...