In our summer edition this year, we provide updates on two topics that have been the subject of recent articles on Health Policy News: continued impact of the end of the Public Health Emergency, and the recently released Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) proposed rules to enhance Medicaid Access and Quality.
We hope you will join us this fall as we reconvene to discuss the comments received and any CMS action to finalize the Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services and Managed Care Access, Finance, and Quality notices of proposed rulemaking.
Lastly, our policy team will be exhibiting at the National Academy for State Health Policy conference (Boston, August 14-16th). Be sure to stop by our booth at each event and say hi!
As always, Health Policy News will provide timely updates and analysis on applicable health policy developments as they occur, but you can contact us at healthpolicynews@pcgus.com with any questions or comments related to this summer edition.
As the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Ends-the Future of Telemedicine for Some Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy Remains Unclear
When the COVID-19 federal Public Health Emergency (PHE) ended on May 11th, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) planned to roll-back several prescribing practices to pre-pandemic restrictions. The roll-back included the waivers in place to prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine that was previously covered by HPN in the March 2023 newsletter. The controlled medications included in the proposed roll back include treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) and some utilized for gender affirming hormone therapy (GAHT), such as testosterone. To read more about how DEA proposals and the end of the PHE may affect access to these medications, click here.
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PCG Hosts Webinar and Releases a New Tool to Assist States in Providing Comment on the Impact of Proposed Rules to Enhance Medicaid Access/Quality
On June 15th, PCG’s Health and Human Services teams hosted the webinar “PCG Discussion on the Impact of the Proposed Rules to Enhance Access and Quality for Medicaid Programs” for clients—to flag changes and highlight areas where CMS had specifically requested state feedback to assist clients in providing comments to CMS by the July 3rd deadline.
To assist states with drafting comments, HPN has put together a quick guide of areas across both proposed rules where CMS seeks comments from states- to access the quick guide as well as webinar resources, click here.
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