Click Here to Ask Your Legislator to Sign the Letter.

On Wednesday, October 20, Representatives Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) began circulating a Dear Colleague letter in the House of Representatives, urging members to sign on to a letter urging the Biden Administration to amend the recently issued interim final rule implementing part of the No Surprises Act and align the IFR with the law as intended and as passed by Congress. This letter follows up on a June letter led by the two Representatives that garnered nearly 100 bipartisan cosigners that urged regulators to ensure congressional intent was followed in implementing the surprise billing law.

As previously reported in Weekly Updates and ACEP's Regs & Eggs blog, ACEP believes the IFR clearly deviates from congressional intent and ignores the carefully-developed bipartisan compromise that was signed into law last year. The Suozzi/Wenstrup letter lays out the same case to the agencies responsible for issuing the regulation (the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Treasury, and U.S. Department of Labor), reiterating the balanced approach Congress intended in creating a fair independent dispute resolution process and outlining how the IFR does not reflect the way the law was written nor a law that could have passed Congress. The authors ultimately urge the Administration to revise the law and specify that IDR entities should not default to the insurer-defined median in-network rate and instead consider all factors outlined in the statute without disproportionately weighting one factor over another.

The letter is officially endorsed by ACEP and nearly 40 other physician and hospital organizations. ACEP will continue working tirelessly on the legislative and regulatory fronts to address this critical issue and will continue to provide updates when the letter is finalized and sent to the Administration.

Click Here to Ask Your Legislator to Sign the Suozzi/Wenstrup Letter.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives approved, by a vote of 397 to 22, the ACEP-supported "Strengthening America's Strategic National Stockpile Act of 2021" (H.R. 3635), sponsored by Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and 15 other bipartisan cosponsors. The bill would enhance the capabilities of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) to ensure the federal government can sufficiently respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future public health emergencies that require SNS distribution of drugs, devices, vaccines, or other ancillary medical supplies. In particular, the bill would focus on improved equipment maintenance, supply chain flexibility, temporarily awarding grants to states to improve their own strategic stockpiles and provide improvements and increased transparency to SNS distributions.

The Senate companion bill, S. 1974, is sponsored by Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and has been referred to the Senate HELP Committee for consideration.

On Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee held a hearing entitled "Enhancing Public Health: Legislation to Protect Children and Families." The hearing highlighted twelve public health bills, including two ACEP-supported bills - H.R. 1193, the "Cardiovascular Advances in Research and Opportunities Legacy (CAROL) Act," and H.R. 4555, the "Oral Health Literacy and Awareness Act." H.R. 1193, sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), would expand research on valvular heart disease and its treatment and H.R. 4555, sponsored by Reps. Tony Cardenas (D-CA) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), would authorize a public education campaign across all relevant HRSA programs to increase oral health education and awareness.

The other bills reviewed by the Health Subcommittee included: H.R. 623, the "Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0;" H.R. 1965, the "Increasing Access to Quality Cardiac Rehabilitation Care Act;" H.R. 2161, the "Children and Media Research Advancement (CAMRA) Act;" H.R. 3749, the "Katherine's Law for Lung Cancer Early Detection and Survival Act;" H.R. 4612, the "Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screenings (PALS) Act;" H.R. 5487, the "Stillbirth Health Improvement and Education (SHINE) for Autumn Act;" H.R. 5551, the "Improving the Health of Children Act;" H.R. 5552, the "Lead Poisoning Prevention Act;" H.R. 5558, the "Prostate Cancer Prevention Act;" and H.R. 5561, the "Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Reauthorization Act."

Witnesses included: Bruce Cassis, DDS, MAGD, Academy of General Dentistry; Raymond DuBois, MD, PhD, American Association for Cancer Research; Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, American Heart Association; Ellyn Miller, Smashing Walnuts Foundation; Rick Nolan, former U.S. Representative; Jenny Redesky, MD, University of Michigan Medical School; and Stacey Stewart, March of Dimes.

To view the hearing, click here.

On Tuesday, October 26, the Health Subcommittee will hold another hearing on additional public health bills, including the ACEP-led "Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act" (H.R. 1667).

On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing entitled "Health Insurance Coverage in America: Current and Future Role of Federal Programs." Witnesses included Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Rick Scott (R-FL); as well as Linda Blumberg, PHD, Urban Institute; Sara Collins, PhD, The Commonwealth Fund; Douglas Holtz-Eakin, PhD, American Action Forum; and Frederick Isasi, JD, MPH, Families USA. To view the hearing, click here.

On Thursday, the House Appropriations Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee held a hearing entitled "Update on VA's Electronic Health Record Modernization Implementation." The only witness was Donald Remy, Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. To view the hearing, click here.

It's finally time for ACEP21 in Boston! NEMPAC is hosting several special activities to recognize and thank our most committed and generous donors. 

NEMPAC VIP Donor Reception
Sunday: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Contemporary Ballroom and Elevate Balcony, Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport

ACEP members who have contributed at the $600 or more in 2021 ($60 or more for Residents) are invited to celebrate NEMPAC's growth and success while mingling with other donors and NEMPAC and ACEP leaders.

NEMPAC "Give-a-Shift" Donor Lounge
Monday - Wednesday: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Room 209

ACEP members who have donated at the "Give-a-Shift" level ($1200 for attendings, $365 for transitioning or retired members, or $120 for residents) in 2021 are invited to visit and enjoy this private lounge with complimentary beverages, boxed lunch, snacks, television, and business center amenities. NEMPAC Board members and staff will be available to discuss NEMPAC's mission and activities in the 2022 election cycle.

Click here to contribute to NEMPAC and secure your VIP status at ACEP21! 

Questions about your donation status? Click here to email us.

As the great Yogi Berra said, "it's deja vu all over again." Like last year, physicians face significant cuts under Medicare unless Congress steps in to intervene.

Read the Regs & Eggs blog to find out more about possible congressional action to avert upcoming Medicare payment cuts and what this means for Medicare physician payments going forward.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made the following amendments to the emergency use authorizations (EUA) for COVID-19 vaccines:

• Allows for the use of a single booster dose of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine that may be administered at least 6 months after completion of the primary series to individuals:
  • 65 years of age and older
  • 18 through 64 years of age at high risk of severe COVID-19
  • 18 through 64 years of age with frequent institutional or occupational exposure to COVID-19 (including health care workers).
• Allows for the use of a single booster dose of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine may be administered at least 2 months after completion of the single-dose regimen to individuals 18 years of age and older.
• Allows individuals to mix and match which vaccines they use for their booster dose.
• Clarifies that a single booster dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine may be administered at least 6 months after completion of the primary series to individuals 18 through 64 years of age with frequent institutional or occupational exposure to COVID-19 (including health care workers).

On Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMS Innovation Center) released a white paper detailing the vision for the Center over the next 10 years. The CMS Innovation Center conducted a systematic review of the over 50 alternative payment models it has tested thus far, and based on its findings, developed a strategy to shape its future work. The vision includes the following five overarching objectives:

1. Drive Accountable Care

• Aim: Increase the number of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in a care relationship with accountability for quality and total cost of care.

2. Advance Health Equity

• Aim: Embed health equity in every aspect of CMS Innovation Center models and increase focus on underserved populations.

3. Support Care Innovations

• Aim: Leverage a range of supports that enable integrated, person-centered care - such as actionable, practice-specific data, technology, dissemination of best practices, peer-to-peer learning collaboratives, and payment flexibilities.

4. Improve Access by Addressing Affordability

• Aim: Pursue strategies to address health care prices, affordability, and reduce unnecessary or duplicative care.

5. Partner to Achieve System Transformation

• Aim: Align priorities and policies across CMS and aggressively engage payers, purchasers, states, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to improve quality, to achieve equitable outcomes, and to reduce health care costs.

ACEP is still assessing what impact this new strategy may have on the testing of models that affect emergency physicians and their patients, including ACEP's proposed model, the Acute Unscheduled Care Model (AUCM).