Regulatory/Legislative News

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.

The Alliance for Eye and Vision Research and the Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society joined with others in the vision community to recognize July as Dry Eye Awareness Month and the two groups also participated in related a congressional briefing.

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.

The Contact Lens Prescription Verification Modernization Act was introduced in the House of Representatives July 25.

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

Legislation that targets health and vision plan abuses and is backed by the American Optometric Association and the American Dental Association was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Summertime is upon us once again. It seems to happen every year about this time.

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.