House Energy & Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) announced that Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH) will shift to the E&C health subcommittee, a move that brings a digital health advocate onto the health panel as lawmakers grapple with whether to permanently extend telehealth waivers , and how HHS should regulate digital therapeutics and artificial intelligence. Balderson is the co-chair of a recently formed bipartisan Congressional Digital Health Caucus. The caucus is initially focusing on AI, and members hope to help...

The No Surprises Act’s independent dispute resolution (IDR) mechanism that Congress’ scorekeeper had believed would reduce costs over the first decade may end up raising in-network prices and premiums, according to a recent Brookings Institution report analyzing the first tranche of IDR outcome data released by CMS in February, which suggest lawmakers’ goal of ending surprise billing without increasing rates is in jeopardy. It’s a pretty shocking outcome considering congressional committee leaders, the Congressional Budget Office and other experts believed...

Senate health committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is seeking feedback from the long COVID community on a draft legislative proposal that would appropriate $10 billion in mandatory funding for the National Institutes of Health over the next decade to bolster its response to the condition through several new initiatives. However, the reactions to Sanders' draft reveal significant and enduring divisions among long COVID advocacy groups. This draft bill, unveiled Tuesday (April 9), follows the Senate health committee's January hearing on...

The Biden administration is revisiting the idea of offering Medicare add-on payments to incentivize hospitals to create buffer stocks of essential medicines to avert shortages, but it is tailoring the plan to small, independent hospitals in its calendar year 2025 inpatient payment proposal out Wednesday (April 10). CMS last year proposed applying the buffer stock plan to all hospitals but punted the idea after hospitals complained it could be administratively burdensome, especially for rural and safety-net hospitals. As part of...