Citing Fraud And Device Misuse, HHS Seeks Check On Remote Patient Care
As more patients switched to remote patient monitoring, the cost to Medicare ballooned to $311 million, up from just $15 million in 2019 before the covid-19 pandemic. Also in the news: telehealth addiction treatment, the organ transplant network, and more.
Stat:
As Medicare Spending On Remote Patient Monitoring Jumps, HHS Watchdog Warns Of Fraud, Misuse
The federal watchdog at the Department of Health and Human Services issued a report on Tuesday calling for more oversight of remote patient monitoring in Medicare. The Office of Inspector General’s report called out the potential for fraud and misuse of tools like at-home blood pressure cuffs, connected scales, and continuous glucose monitors that can feed data directly to a patient’s doctor. (Palmer, 9/24)
Stat:
Lawmakers Move To Preserve Telehealth Addiction Treatment Options
Two Democratic lawmakers are working to preserve health providers’ right to prescribe controlled substances via telehealth, including stimulants for ADHD and buprenorphine for opioid addiction. A new bill being drafted by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) comes months before the expiration of temporary waivers first enacted by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s during the Covid-19 pandemic. Though the DEA is currently contemplating new regulations that would roll back many of the pandemic-era flexibilities, the lawmakers’ new bill would likely extend the current rules through 2026, according to two lobbyists familiar with the effort. (Facher and Aguilar, 9/23)
More health news from the federal government —
Fierce Healthcare:
HRSA Unveils Organ Transplant Network Overhaul Contracts
As promised, the Biden administration is moving on from the national organ transplant system’s nearly 40-year “contract monopoly” by awarding new modernization contracts to multiple vendors. The awards follow last year’s congressional mandate to shift the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) away from nonprofit contractor the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) amid allegations of inefficiencies and, as of recently, misconduct. ... Though lawmakers criticized the administrator for slow progress, the Department for Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) on Thursday announced five new organizations it tapped to work on the overhaul. (Muoio, 9/23)
The Hill:
Brett Favre To Testify At House Hearing Amid Mississippi Scandal
Brett Favre is set to testify Tuesday at a hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee examining welfare reform, the panel confirmed to The Hill, an appearance that comes after the former NFL star faced allegations of using Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) state funds for corporate gains. Favre was accused of encouraging local officials to use welfare money to build an athletic facility and support the manufacture of a concussion drug. A Mississippi state audit found that some $5 million in TANF resources was reallocated to pay for the construction of a volleyball facility at Favre’s alma mater — the University of Southern Mississippi, where his daughter was then playing volleyball — and that $1.7 million was directed toward a company named Prevacus, which is working to develop the concussion medication and where he is an investor. (Fields, 9/23)
KFF Health News:
Vance Rewrites History About Trump And Obamacare
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) on Sept. 15 told viewers of NBC’s “Meet the Press” that former President Donald Trump built up the Affordable Care Act, even though Trump could have chosen to do the opposite. “Donald Trump had two choices,” Vance, Trump’s running mate, said. “He could have destroyed the program, or he could actually build upon it and make it better so that Americans didn’t lose a lot of health care. He chose to build upon a plan, even though it came from his Democratic predecessor.” (Appleby, 9/24)
