Policy and Politics News

The American Society of Nephrology President Eleanor D. Lederer, MD, FASN, has issued a statement criticizing the Trump administration’s proposed funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health. The cuts were proposed as part of the administration’s 2018 discretionary budget proposal, released March 13.

On Oct. 14, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released final rulemaking for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, the new Medicare payment system for physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and certified registered nurse anesthetists. Data-gathering for this pay-for-performance plan began in January 2017.

A Massachusetts federal jury has cleared dialysis provider Fresenius Medical Care of liability in a suit alleging that an improper dose of the company’s dialysate, Naturalyte, had led to the death of the plaintiff’s late husband, Modern Healthcare reported.

On March 1, Representatives Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., introduced the Living Donor Protection Act of 2017, to protect the rights of living organ donors.

Speculation continues to circulate around whether Obamacare will be repealed, replaced, or amended. Less well known but also important are the possible changes coming to state Medicaid programs with a new administration.

With the Trump Administration now in charge, many have been asking what the impact will be on health care—specifically on the Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act. With all the buzz around abolishing the Affordable Care Act, some hope that MACRA will receive the same fate.

National health expenditure growth is expected to average 5.6% annually from 2016 to 2025, according to a report published by Health Affairs and authored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Office of the Actuary. These projections are constructed using a current-law framework and do not assume potential legislative changes over the projection period.

On Jan. 25, a federal court in Texas prohibited the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from placing new regulations on dialysis providers that pay the premiums for individual health plans issued as part of the Affordable Care Act.

In a statement released Jan. 31, the American Society of Nephrology said it is “deeply concerned that President Trump’s recent Executive Order on Immigration will disrupt the society’s mission and have a damaging long-term effect on the fight to prevent, treat, and cure kidney diseases across the globe.”

The United States District Court of the Eastern District of Texas on Jan. 25 issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from implementing an interim final rule that created new requirements for dialysis providers that make payments of premiums for individual market health plans.