The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday, November 10.  Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents.

The White House

  • The White House announced that it will spend $785 million in American Rescue Plan funding to support community-based organizations building vaccine confidence across communities of color, rural areas, and low-income populations; bolster the efforts of Tribal communities leading the way in mitigating the spread of the virus; expand public health systems’ ability to respond to the needs of people with disabilities and older adults who have been among the highest risk for infection or death from COVID-19; and continue its mission to build a more diverse and sustainable public health workforce, including a new apprenticeship program that will train thousands of our COVID-19 community health workers and prepare them for long-term careers in public health.  Learn more from a White House fact sheet about the initiative.
  • The president has issued a memo to the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) directing them to continue reimbursing states for 100 percent of the cost of using their national guard units in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic through April 1, 2022.  See that memo here.
  • The White House has posted a transcript of the November 10 press briefing given by its COVID-19 response team and public officials.  Go here for the slides presented during that briefing.

Provider Relief Fund:  Phase 3 Payment Reconsideration

  • The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is accepting requests for reconsideration from providers that believe their Provider Relief Fund Phase 3 payments were incorrectly calculated.  Providers may not revise or correct their submitted application and the reconsideration will address only the calculation itself and not objections to the calculation methodology.  Go here for further information.  The deadline for submitting requests for reconsideration of Phase 3 payments is this Friday, November 12.

Department of Health and Human Services

COVID-19

  • HHS will invest $650 million from the American Rescue Plan to strengthen manufacturing capacity for quick, high-quality diagnostic testing through rapid point-of-care molecular tests and improve Americans’ access to them.  HHS will use these funds to ramp up U.S. domestic manufacturing capacity.  Learn more from this HHS announcement.
  • HHS will spend $143.5 million in American Rescue Plan money to expand community-based efforts to conduct tailored local outreach about vaccines, build vaccine confidence, and address barriers to vaccination in their communities.  The funding will support two programs in which award recipients will develop regional and local partnerships to reach unvaccinated individuals, including pregnant women and people from underserved and high-risk communities, to help bolster COVID-19 vaccination efforts.  Learn more from this HHS news release.  Much of the funding has already been awarded but $10 million is still available, to be awarded on a competitive basis.  Learn more from this HHS funding notice.  Applications are due December 10.

Health Policy News

  • HHS’s Office on Women’s Health has announced that more than 200 hospitals are participating in the HHS Perinatal Improvement Collaborative, which will focus on improving maternal and infant health outcomes by reducing disparities.  Including hospitals from all 50 states, the collaborative will be the first to evaluate how pregnancy affects overall population health by linking inpatient data of newborns to their mothers.  Learn more about the program and find a list of the participating hospitals in this HHS announcement.

HHS/Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation

Next Thursday, November 18, the CMS Innovation Center (CMMI) will host a webinar listening session at 1 p.m. (eastern).  Register for that webinar and find more information here.

CMMI has requested stakeholder input on three specific questions and NASH intends to submit responses on behalf of its members.  To do so, we need to hear from you.  Please review the CMMI questions below and send us your written responses no later than the close of business this Friday, November 12.  If you prefer to share your responses to these questions via phone, we will be happy to schedule a call with you.

Questions from CMMI

  1. What is the greatest obstacle to participating in a CMS Innovation Center or other value-based, accountable care model, and how do you recommend the CMS Innovation Center alleviate this obstacle?
  2. CMS is currently exploring quicker, more actionable data, learning collaboratives, and payment and regulatory flexibilities. What else could the CMS Innovation Center do to support clinicians and help them be successful in models?
  3. How can CMMI better incorporate patient needs and goals into models? How should the impacts of value-based care on patients be measured?

NASH staff will compile member responses and submit them to CMMI prior to next week’s listening session.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

COVID-19

  • Last week CMS held a webinar to explain the new federal regulation that mandates COVID-19 vaccines for all health care workers and others employed by provider organizations regulated under Medicare’s conditions of participation.  Learn more about the regulation from this video of the webinar and the slides presented during the event.  CMS also has posted an infographic about the requirement.
  • The Surgeon General has released a new community toolkit to help individuals, health care professionals and administrators, teachers, school administrators, librarians, and faith leaders to understand, identify, and stop the spread health misinformation in their communities.  Learn more from this HHS announcement and go here to see the toolkit.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC)

Stakeholder Events

HHS – Monoclonals and More:  Issues and Opportunities with Early COVID-19 Treatment Options – November 12

HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response will hold a webinar on COVID-19 treatment with monoclonal antibodies on Friday, November 12 at 12:30 p.m. during which it will address some of the most current recommendations for use of monoclonal antibodies, upcoming therapies, and the challenges and opportunities that new therapies may pose in conjunction with monoclonal antibodies and other treatments (e.g., prioritization and distribution).  Speakers also will highlight operational principles for a scaled strategy for use of these therapeutics in a scarce resource situation.  For more information about the webinar and to register, go here.

CMS – COVID-19 Vaccines and Rural Communities – November 15

CMS will hold a webinar on COVID-19 vaccines and rural communities for its community providers and partners working in rural areas.  Go here for further information about the webinar and to register to participate.

CDC – Antibiotic Prescribing and COVID-19 – November 18

The CDC will hold a webinar titled “What Clinicians, Pharmacists, and Public Health Partners Need to Know About Antibiotic Prescribing and COVID-19” on Wednesday, November 18 at 2:00 p.m. (eastern).  Go here for information about the webinar, the presenters, and how to participate.