Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
HHS Failed To Conduct Required Visits Of Independent Living Programs For People With Disabilities, Inspector General Finds
The Washington Post: Agency Did Not Conduct Required Oversight Of Program For Those With Disabilities
Health and Human Services officials have failed to conduct required visits of independent living programs for thousands of people with intellectual and physical disabilities, the agency’s Office of the Inspector General found. The Administration for Community Living, created within HHS in 2012, administers two independent living programs, which aim to help people with disabilities find housing services, job opportunities and other resources. By law, ACL must carry out compliance reviews of at least 15 percent of the programs that receive federal funding and in at least one-third of the states that receive the funding. The inspector general found ACL has not conducted such visits since it assumed oversight of the programs five years ago. (Abutaleb, 8/14)
Modern Healthcare: Overhaul Medicare Advantage Prior Authorizations: Hospitals
Hospitals and health systems are demanding that the CMS set national rules for how insurers manage prior authorization and payment for pre-approved claims in Medicare Advantage. In response to the Trump administration's request for information on its Patients over Paperwork initiative to cut Medicare red tape, hospitals complained that prior authorization is a complicated system where payment isn't guaranteed even if they follow all the steps insurers lay out for them. (Luthi, 8/13)
Kaiser Health News: Trump Administration Hits Brakes On Law To Curb Unneeded Medicare CT Scans, MRIs
Five years after Congress passed a law to reduce unnecessary MRIs, CT scans and other expensive diagnostic imaging tests that could harm patients and waste money, federal officials have yet to implement it. The law requires that doctors consult clinical guidelines set by the medical industry before Medicare will pay for many common exams for enrollees. Health care providers who go way beyond clinical guidelines in ordering these scans (the 5% who order the most tests that are inappropriate) will, under the law, be required after that to get prior approval from Medicare for their diagnostic imaging. But after physicians argued the provision would interfere with their practices, the Trump administration delayed putting the 2014 law in place until January 2020, two years later than originally planned. (Galewitz, 8/14)
POLITICO Pro: FDA To Take Stock Of Menu Labeling Implementation
The FDA is planning to assess how well industry has been complying with menu labeling requirements that kicked in more than a year ago after many years of delay. In an update released today, the agency reiterated that it's committed to "working flexibly with establishments to help them achieve compliance" — which has been a goal since the regulation took effect in May 2018 — and outlined new steps it's planning in the coming months. (Bottemiller Evich, 8/13)
In other news from the FDA -
The New York Times: Drinking Bleach Won’t Cure Cancer Or Anything Else, F.D.A. Says
The Food and Drug Administration was dragged into the online world of medical misinformation this week, telling consumers not to drink bleach solutions that are being marketed as cures for autism, cancer, H.I.V./AIDS and other medical conditions. It was the latest example of how health authorities must sometimes pit science against the viral power of the internet, which regularly serves as a platform for inaccurate medical advice and unproven claims of breakthroughs. (Hoffman, 8/13)
