Advocacy in Action

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a final guidance document to provide clarification on its enforcement policies and premarket review expectations for certain non-invasive remote monitoring used for patient monitoring at the conclusion of the COVID-19 public health emergency titled "Enforcement Policy for Non-Invasive Remote Monitoring Devices Used to Support Patient Monitoring."

CMS recently announced that it will soon begin conducting MIPS Data Validation and Audits (DVA) related to 2022 performance year (PY) data. DVAs are conducted to confirm the accuracy and completeness of data reported for purposes of MIPS.

On October 17th, CMS released the final evaluation report of the Million Hearts Cardiovascular Disease Risk Reduction Model.

On November 2nd, CMS published the final rule with comment period for outpatient hospital and ambulatory surgical center (ASC) services for CY 2024.

On October 25th, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee advanced the nomination of Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to serve as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by a vote of 15-6.

While Congress continues to debate how to address future Medicare physician payment updates, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) covered the topic during its October meeting as a precursor to delivering potential recommendations to Congress on the matter.

On October 4th, the GOP Doctors Caucus released a discussion draft of legislation seeking to reform budget neutrality policies applied to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

On October 19th, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health convened a hearing titled "What’s the Prognosis? Examining Proposals to Improve Patient Access to Care & Minimize Red Tape for Doctors." During the hearing, the panel considered 23 pieces of legislation, ranging from proposals to stabilize and improve the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, and MIPS, to laboratory payments.

On November 8th, the Committee will hold a markup on a legislative package to extend essential Medicaid and Medicare provisions that will expire this year, increase Medicare payments to support physicians and other providers, expand mental health care and substance use disorder services under Medicaid and Medicare, and reduce prescription drug costs for seniors.

On November 2nd, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule without comment period for calendar year (CY) 2024.