Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) announced Tuesday evening that they have a policy agreement to extend the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for 5 years and "transition CHIP to its traditional federal-state partnership" over time, with "additional protections for low-income children and flexibility for states."  The press release from Chairman Hatch and Ranking Member Wyden is attached.  The press release indicates legislative language will be released "in the coming days" and Chairman Hatch notes his goal to ensure the agreement "does not add to the deficit."

Click here to read the release.

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Sens. Graham, Cassidy et al ACA Block Grant Legislation

Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Dean Heller (R-NV) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) have released legislation to repeal "the structure and architecture" of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and shift funding to an annual block grant to states.  The block grant would be run through the Children's Health Insurance Program.  The Senators' description indicates the grant funding would "replace the federal money currently being spent on Medicaid Expansion, Obamacare tax credits, cost-sharing reduction subsidies and the basic health plan dollars," and provide states with regulatory flexibility.  Key provisions include the following (taken directly from the Senators' description):

• Repeals Obamacare Individual and Employer Mandates.
• Repeals the Obamacare Medical Device Tax.
• Strengthens the ability for states to waive Obamacare regulations.
• Returns power to the states and patients by equalizing the treatment between Medicaid Expansion and Non-expansion States through an equitable block grant distribution.
• Protects patients with pre-existing medical conditions.

The Senators indicate the bill would bring "all states to funding parity by 2026."

The legislative text and related documents issued by the Senators are below.  

• Click here for an analysis of the effect of the legislation on states.
• Click here for FAQ's.
• Click here for the formula description.

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Sen. Sanders & 16 Democratic Senators Release Medicare for All Act of 2017 & Related Documents

Under the legislation, every resident of the United States would receive health insurance "through an expanded Medicare program with improved and comprehensive benefits."  The bill would be implemented over a four year period, and provides that patients will "have the freedom to choose their doctors, hospitals and other health care providers without worrying about whether that provider is "in-network."  The legislation provides "comprehensive health coverage" to beneficiaries, including primary and preventive services, prescription drugs, mental health services, and hospital services, among others.  Sen. Sanders also issued a paper, attached, outlining ways to fund the legislation, including income-based premiums paid by employers and households and reforms  to make the personal income tax "more progressive," among other options.
 
Senator Sanders introduced the bill along with Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Al Franken (D-MN), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT.), Edward Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

The press release (below) also notes that the bill has been endorsed by 30 national organizations and unions including: Labor Campaign for Single Payer, Our Revolution, Social Security Works, Progressive Campaign Change Committee, Democracy for America, Working Families Party, MoveOn, All of Us, Demand Progress, Health Care Now, Progressive Democrats of America, CREDO, Public Citizen, Latinos for Healthcare Equality, Americans for Democratic Action, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, DailyKos, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, 350.org, American Sustainable Business Council, LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens), National Nurses United, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, New York Nurses Association, Utility Workers Union of America, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, United Mine Workers of America, Amalgamated Transit Union and Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

• Click here to read the text of the legislation, section-by-section, Executive Summary and funding options paper.
• Click here to read the release.

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AMA Sends Letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma on Provisions of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA)

Organizations representing physicians from a number of different specialties thank the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for its tireless efforts to implement the laboratory provisions of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA). However, the physician community is becoming increasingly concerned about the potential impacts of PAMA on patient access to critical rapid clinical testing services offered to patients while they are receiving medical care in their physician's office. 

Click here to read the letter.

LAMMICO, the leading medical professional liability insurance company in Louisiana, announces the launch of a new on-demand risk management resource for its policyholders and qualifying practice managers called "Practice Solutions."

For more than 35 years, policyholders have trusted LAMMICO's comprehensive, customized approach to risk management. This new online hub is the insurance carrier's new one-stop collection of resources and services for their policyholders to be used to mitigate malpractice risk and other risks, and to help make the business of medicine more manageable.

"We were consistently hearing from policyholders that they needed more resources to guide them on how to efficiently and effectively manage a practice, while simultaneously remaining compliant and avoiding the risk of a claim," said Natalie Cohen, LAMMICO Practice Management Specialist. "We listened to our policyholders' current pain points, and developed Practice Solutions to satisfy their needs in the face of evolving regulations and systemic threats."

Categories of available content include:

Click here to learn more.

Baton Rouge General unveiled plans for a $10 million expansion of the Pennington Cancer Center on the ground floor of Medical Tower 2 at the hospital's Bluebonnet Boulevard campus. 

Once complete, the 32,000-square-foot cancer center will provide centralized cancer services, offer additional treatment options and provide for better accommodations for cancer patients. The project will begin early next year with the expected completion date in early 2019.

"As our cancer treatment options have grown, it just makes sense to pull them all into one centralized cancer center," BRG President and CEO Edgardo Tenreiro says in a statement. "This expansion will make accessing our full suite of services easier for patients, and provide more dedicated resources to people recovering from and being treated for cancer."

Ochsner Medical Center Jefferson Highway is setting a new standard for patient care by deploying Xenex LightStrike® Germ-Zapping Robots® to improve patient safety and reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections (HAI). 

Xenex's LightStrike Robots can destroy deadly pathogens and multi-drug resistant organisms that can cause HAI. LightStrike Robots help hospitals reduce their infection rates by killing microscopic germs and superbugs through use of pulsed xenon, an environmentally-friendly noble gas, to create Full Spectrum™, high-intensity ultraviolet (UV) light. The UV light can quickly destroy infectious germs - including Clostridium difficile (C.diff), carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), norovirus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), influenza and the Ebola virus - in less than five minutes. The devices are used in addition to the routine cleaning procedures that currently take place as an extra level of protection against infection.

"Patient safety has always been our top priority. We are continuously evaluating opportunities to improve our efforts and implement best practices," said Dr. Sandy Kemmerly, System Medical Director for Hospital Quality, Ochsner Health System, and Infectious Disease Specialist at Ochsner Medical Center Jefferson Highway. "Using LightStrike Robots, in addition to our existing room disinfection process, improves our ability to destroy dangerous pathogens and reduce the risk of infections to create a safer environment for our patients, employees and the communities we serve. This is one part of our comprehensive strategy for preventing HAI and enhancing our culture of safety at our hospitals."

Click here to read full article.

 

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