Regulatory/Legislative News

Several bills have been introduced recently to reduce the high cost of prescription drugs.

In an 18 to 5 vote earlier today, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee sent the nomination of Stephen M. Hahn, MD, as the next FDA commissioner to the full Senate.

The Trump administration is expected to announce that Stephen M. Hahn, MD, chief medical executive and professor of radiation oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is the next FDA commissioner, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

On Feb. 5, 2016, I posted, “Where is the resistance to health care reform? Now, here at the end of the summer of 2019, I thought this would be a good time to check in and see how we are doing. As we start this presidential election cycle, health care reform seems to be at the top of everyone’s list. Voters are interested, and candidates want to talk about it, so let us take a closer look.

President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order that directs HHS to take action to provide more insurance plan options under Medicare Advantage and to remove regulations that are burdensome to health care providers.

The FDA issued a class 2 device recall for the Visibly Online Refraction Test because “the firm has not received authorization from FDA to market the product,” the agency stated.

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.

CooperVision asked the Federal Trade Commission to consider patient safety, the eye care provider’s expertise, stronger enforcement and the use of technology for prescription verification as it evaluates proposed changes to the Contact Lens Rule.

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.

Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston rejected signatures in support of a referendum on a recently passed law allowing optometrists in the state to perform certain surgical procedures.