On November 2, 2023, in a marathon day for health care policy, both the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) held the first day of their November meetings. MedPAC covered Rural Emergency Hospitals, Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs), hospice, and software payment. MACPAC held a panel and a discussion on Medicaid unwinding.
On October 27, 2023, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a field hearing on the Hospital Staffing Crisis. The hearing explored whether staffing issues are leading to dangers in patient care and to nursing burnout.
On October 5, 2023, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) discussed Medicare physician payment reform. The Commission believed spending growth limits/volume adjustments won’t work and that new methods should be implemented like more payments for quality of care.
On September 21, 2023, the Senate HELP Committee held a markup on bills to address maternal health care and the provider shortage. Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) opened the hearing by outlining how the U.S. healthcare system is broken and Ranking Member Bill Cassidy (R-LA) “agreed with that diagnosis but disagreed with the prescription.”
On September 14, 2023, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on “Preventing and Responding to Generic Drug Shortages.” The hearing centered around legislative proposals to try to address generic drug shortages in the healthcare market.
