LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY UPDATE
Week in Brief
Senate Confirms Tom Price as HHS Secretary by a 52-47 vote.
President Donald Trump Announces the 24 Members of His Cabinet.
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Blocks Anthem and Cigna Proposed Merger.
WHITE HOUSE UPDATE
February 2
OIRA Issues Interim Guidance on the Executive Order Entitled Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs.
February 7
Vice President Mike Pence Confers with Right to Try Advocates.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
February 6
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Outlines His Views for Responsible Repeal and Replacement of the Affordable Care Act.
Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) Again Call on SEC to Investigate HHS Nominee Congressman Tom Price’s (R-GA) Stock Market Activities.
Bipartisan Group of Senators Urge President Trump to Increase Funding for Alzheimer’s Research in Fiscal 2018 Budget Plan.
February 7
House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health Holds Markup on Two Medicaid Bills, H.R. 181, Close Annuity Loopholes in Medicaid (CALM) Act and H.R. 829, The Prioritizing the Most Vulnerable Over Lottery Winners Act of 2017.
House Energy & Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) Decries Republican Efforts to “Strengthen” Medicaid a Hoax.
House Ways & Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) Releases Statement Regarding the Democratic Caucus Approving Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA) to Join the Committee for 115th Congress to Fill Former Congressman Xavier Becerra’s (D-CA) Vacant Seat.
House Small Business Committee Hosts Hearing Regarding ACA Marketplaces.
Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Holds Business Meeting to Consider Pending Nomination of David Shulkin, M.D., for Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Chairman Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Ranking Member Jon Tester (D-MT) Applaud Unanimous Approval of Candidate with 15-0 Vote.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) Announce Assignments for Panel’s Six Subcommittees.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and House Energy & Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) Issue a Statement Following Release of a GAO Report Finding CMS “Continues to Rely on Inaccurate, Incomplete, and Untimely Medicaid Data.”
House Budget Committee Ranking Member John Yarmuth (D-KY) Announces Democratic Members of Committee for 115th Congress.
February 8
House Energy & Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), House Ways & Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA), House Education & the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), and House Budget Committee Ranking Member John Yarmuth (D-KY) Send a Letter to Acting Secretaries of HHS, Treasury, and Labor Requesting Additional Information on Implications of Implementing President Donald Trump’s Executive Order Regarding the ACA.
Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), with Other Advocates, Hold a Press Conference Urging Senate Republicans to Postpone Congressman Tom Price’s (R-GA) Confirmation Vote Until OGE and SEC Further Investigate Medical Stock Trades.
Senate Democrats Call on HHS Nominee Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) to Renounce President Donald Trump’s Position on “‘Inhumane’ Immigration Ban ‘Delaying Lifesaving Scientific Breakthroughs and Depleting Our Health Care Workforce.’”
February 9
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) Welcomes Senator Luther Strange (R-AL) to Committee for 115th Congress.
Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Praises Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) in Speech on Senate Floor Regarding His “Exceptional Experience and Leadership” and Urges Fellow Senators to Support His HHS Nomination; Other Republican Leaders Praise Congressman Tom Price’s (R-GA) Fitness for HHS Secretary Position.
Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Senate HELP Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) Deliver Statements in Speeches on the Senate Floor in Opposition of Congressman Tom Price’s (R-GA) Nomination for HHS Secretary.
House Budget Committee Publishes Press Release Entitled, “Obamacare Has Created Fewer Health Care Choices for Americans.”
February 10
Senate HELP Committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN), House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Health Subcommittee Chairman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX), and Interim House Budget Committee Chairwoman Diane Black (R-TN) Release Statements Following Vote to Confirm Congressman Tom Price (R-GS) as HHS Secretary.
REGULATORY UPDATE
Department of Health and Human Services
February 7
NIH Discusses Artificial Pancreas Research Projects.
OTHER UPDATES
GAO Publishes Reports,
- Foster Care: HHS Has Taken Steps to Support States’ Oversight of Psychotropic Medications, but Additional Assistance Could Further Collaboration (Feb. 6);
- Medicaid: Program Oversight Hampered by Data Challenges, Underscoring Need for Continued Improvements (Feb. 6);
- Veterans Affairs Information Technology: Management Attention Needed to Improve Critical System Modernizations, Consolidate Data Centers, and Retire Legacy Systems (Feb. 7);
- Medical Devices: Cancer Risk Led FDA to Warn Against Certain Uses of Power Morcellators and Recommend New Labeling (Feb. 8);
- Medicaid Managed Care: Improved Oversight Needed of Payment Rates for Long-Term Services and Supports (Feb. 8).
UPCOMING EVENTS
Congressional Hearings/Markups
HOUSE
House Judiciary, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust
H.R. 372, the “Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017”
• February 16 | 10 a.m.
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
SENATE
Appropriations’ Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee
Mental Health Care: Examining Treatments and Services
• February 13 | 10:30 a.m.
138 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Senate Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
Mental Health Care: Examining Treatments and Services
• February 15 | 10:30 a.m.
138 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Finance Committee
Hearing to Consider the Nomination of Seema Verma to Be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• February 16 | 10 a.m.
215 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Department of Health and Human Services
Meeting Webcast: The Secretary’s Advisory Committee for 2030
Discussion on the development of the Nation’s health promotion and disease prevention objectives[;] [p]rovide recommendations for the Healthy People 2030 mission, vision, framework, and organizational structure[; and] [d]iscuss approaches to improve health status and reduce health risks for the Nation by the year 2030.”
• February 13 | 12 p.m.
Webinar
Town Hall Meeting on the FY 2018 Applications for New Medical Services and Technologies Add-On Payments
Discussion on FY 2018 “applications for add-on payments for new medical services and technologies under the hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS).”
• February 14 | 9 a.m. and teleconference
CMS Auditorium
7500 Security Boulevard
Baltimore, MD 21244
OTHER
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Incorporating Weight Management and Physical Activity Throughout the Cancer Care Continuum: A National Cancer Policy Forum Workshop
• February 13 and 14 | 8 a.m.
500 Fifth Street,
Keck Center
Washington, DC 20001
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Human Genome Editing: Science, Ethics, and Governance Webcast
• February 14 | 11 a.m.
2101 Constitution Avenue NW
Lecture Room
Washington, DC 20418
Medical R&D Caucus Briefing
• February 14 | 12 p.m.
2045 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Health Means Business National Summit and Healthy10 Awards
• February 15 | 11:45 a.m. – 6:15 p.m.
• February 16 | 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
1615 H St. NW,
Washington, DC 20062
For more information about this issue of Power Play: Washington Week in Review or more legislative and regulatory updates, contact the Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville Government Relations and Public Policy group at (202) 466-6550.