The Reed Smith Health Industry Washington Watch blog has been updated to report on recent health policy developments, including the following:

  • Proposed FY 2014 Budget. The Obama Administration has released its proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2014, which includes proposals that would save $401 billion from federal health programs over 10 years. A Reed Smith alert on the proposal is available here.
  • Regulatory Developments. Recent CMS regulations have addressed federal funding for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, Health Insurance Exchange “Navigators,” electronic health record (EHR) donation protections, and oversight rules for accreditation organizations. Reed Smith has issued a special alert regarding recent CMS policies on hospital Part B inpatient billing. The IRS has published hospital community health needs assessment regulations, and a HRSA rule addresses reporting to the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank and the National Practitioner Data Bank.
  • Other HHS Developments. CMS has: announced the winners of the Medicare DMEPOS competitive bidding round 2/national mail order competition; announced 2014 rates and policies for Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug plans; provided resources on EHR incentive program audits; released guidance on participation in Federally-Facilitated and State Partnership Exchanges; and launched a “Medicare Chronic Conditions Dashboard.” FDA has issued draft guidance on biosimilar product development.
  • Legislative Developments. Recent Congressional hearings have addressed a number of health policy issues; a Senate panel has approved the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act; and House committee leaders have released additional details on their Medicare physician fee schedule reform proposal.
  • OIG Developments. The OIG has issued reports on Medicare supplier surety bonds, private insurer reporting to the HealthCare.Gov plan finder portal, and the Medicaid Integrity Program.
  • Health Industry Events. Upcoming events include meetings/calls on EHR billing and coding, the Medicare ESRD low-volume payment adjustment, transitioning to ICD-10, HCPCS code applications, the comparative effectiveness data infrastructure, and medical device labeling.