Regulatory/Legislative News

CMS recently proposed a rule requiring hospitals to disclose the amount that patients would pay for services before they receive care. The rule is part of the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to lower health care costs and increase transparency.

The Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act, introduced last month by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has passed a Senate committee and now awaits further action.

The proportion of appointments scheduled with nurse practitioners, physician assistants and similar advanced practitioners increased by more than 5% during the early years of the Affordable Care Act, according to findings recently published in Annals of Family Medicine.

Trump administration officials recently unveiled the Safe Importation Action Plan, a two-pronged historic approach that they said provides the groundwork for allowing certain drugs that were originally intended for foreign markets to come to the U.S. instead.

Two lawmakers introduced legislation today that they said would lower the price of prescription drugs for Americans, according to a press release.

The AMA and two women’s health organizations recently sued the state of North Dakota, claiming North Dakota’s compelled speech laws threaten patient-doctor relationships by “inflicting irreparable harm on patients and forcing physicians to violate their obligation to give honest and informed advice” and breach the First Amendment.

A district judge recently blocked the HHS rule that certain drugs prices be included in TV ads, saying HHS overstepped its authority in issuing such a requirement. The rule, part of the President’s blueprint to lower drug prices and increase transparency, was scheduled to take effect this month.

About one in five adults treated at community health centers in 11 states that expanded Medicaid eligibility did not have health insurance during a period that it was required by the Affordable Care Act to have such coverage, according to findings recently published in Annals of Family Medicine.

Though some major medical societies applauded President Donald J. Trump’s executive order on June 24 directing HHS to require hospitals upfront disclosure of prices, it faces difficulty coming to fruition, medical, legal and economic experts told Healio Primary Care. 

President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order Monday afternoon that seeks to make certain health care prices more affordable.