The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Monday, April 12.

The White House

COVID-19

• The White House has posted a transcript of the April 12 press briefing provided by its COVID-19 response team and public health officials.

Health Policy and Budget News

• The Biden administration has released its proposed FY 2022 discretionary budget, which addresses, among other things, many aspects of health care policy.  Find the news release announcing the proposed budget here and the budget document itself here.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

COVID-19

• CMS has updated its COVID-19 emergency declaration blanket waivers for health care providers.  The latest update, on pages 11-13, addresses Medicare conditions of participation for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Proposed Rules

• CMS has published a special edition of its online publication MLN Connects devoted entirely to its recently published regulations proposing FY 2022 Medicare payments for skilled nursing facilities, hospice providers, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and inpatient psychiatric facilities.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

COVID-19

• The CDC has updated its data on COVID-19 variant cases in the U.S.
• The CDC has updated its background information about viral vector vaccines, which are used to protect people from COVID-19.
• The CDC has updated its strategies for optimizing supplies of N95 masks.
• The CDC has published information about trends in racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 hospital admissions by region from March through December of 2020.

• The CDC has published a study on emergency department visits for COVID-19 by race and ethnicity in 12 states from October through December of last year.

National Institutes of Health

COVID-19

• The NIH has issued new guidance on the use of monoclonal antibodies to treat patients with COVID-19.  This varies from past guidance because of differences in the effectiveness of some monoclonal antibodies, used on their own or in combination with others, on COVID-19 and COVID-19 variants.  Go here to see the NIH’s notice, explanation, and rationale for the changing recommendations.

Food and Drug Administration

COVID-19

• The FDA has issued a letter to health care personnel and facilities recommending transition from use of decontaminated disposable respirators.  The FDA recommends that health care personnel and facilities transition away from crisis capacity conservation strategies, such as decontamination or bioburden reduction, currently used on disposable respirators for reuse.  Based on the increased domestic supply of new respirators approved by the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) currently available to facilitate this transition, the FDA and CDC believe there is adequate supply of respirators to transition away from use of decontamination and bioburden reduction systems.

Federal Emergency Management Agency

COVID-19

• FEMA has published audit-related guidance to assist recipients and sub-recipients of COVID-19-related public assistance to document and account for disaster costs, minimize the loss of FEMA funding, maximize financial recovery, provide information about procurement and contracting requirements during emergency and exigent circumstances, and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse of disaster funds.  Find the FEMA fact sheet here.  Find information about emergency medical care activities eligible for FEMA support here.

Department of Labor

Health Policy News

The Department of Labor has posted resources to inform stakeholders about new COBRA premium assistance authorized by the American Rescue Plan.  Find those resources here.

Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission

Health Policy News

MACPAC has published an annotated bibliography of racial and ethnic disparities in Medicaid.