Tag: Prescription Drugs
National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) Conference Brings Policy Makers from Across the Country Together
Members of the Health Policy News (HPN) team attended the NCSL Legislative Summit in Nashville from August 5-8, 2019, learning and sharing our work with legislators and staff from across the country. The trending topics this year that related to PCG’s work were: the impact of recent court cases at both the state and federal ...
Legislation aimed at Health Care Costs Advances in Congress
Unlike many topics under discussion in Congress this year, the issue of health care costs is a priority across party lines. With bills pending in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, and a recent executive order issued on the topic, we have broken down the details on the latest cost control developments ...
The House Passes Legislation Aimed at Preserving the Affordable Care Act
Notable among the bills passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in recent months are two bills aimed at shoring up the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Below, we explore the content of both bills—though it is worth noting that neither bill has been, nor is expected to be, taken up by the Senate. H.R. 987 ...
Highlights from The Workers Compensation Research Institute 2019 Annual Issues and Research Conference
February 28-March 1, 2019, marked the 35th annual Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) Issues and Research Conference. The theme of this year’s event, “Breaking Down Barriers to Improve Injured Workers’ Outcomes,” signified two core ideas that were evident in each session. The first was that workers compensation can no longer operate in a silo. As ...
Health Policy News – March 2019
Introduction With the first quarter of the new year coming to a close, we are taking this opportunity to do a national review of major state health policy activity in 2019. Nineteen new governors were sworn into office in January, and many of them assumed office with health care at the top of their agendas. ...
Newly-Elected Governors Set Their Sights on Healthcare Reforms
The new year brought changes to state leadership across the nation, with 19 governors newly entering the corner office—seven of whom took over from an administration on the other end of the political spectrum. This refresh has brought a surge of new ideas and energy in the realm of state health policy. Below, we highlight …
Insights from the AHIP National Health Policy Conference
Last week, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) held its annual health policy conference (#AHIPPOLICY) in Washington DC, with top industry leaders, regulators and policy makers convened to provide diverse voices and perspectives on today’s most urgent health care issues. The conference themes were familiar and front-of-mind topics: tackling the opioid epidemic, rising prescription drug costs, data ...
Health Policy News – February 2019
Introduction While 2019 started slowly under the Federal shutdown, its pace of action has significantly quickened. We bring you a range of health policy updates in this edition of Health Policy News. With the comment period closed for the annual Exchange guidance, states await final guidance for 2020 related to the certification and oversight of ...
2019 Brings Progress on Prescription Drug Cost Control Efforts at State and Federal Level
As states and the federal government grapple with how best to address the issue of rising prescription drug costs, various models have emerged at the federal level that are similar to efforts underway at the State level. The Administration has called upon states to create innovative approaches to state Medicaid programs, particularly by examining value-based ...
Health Policy News Hosts Webinar on Annual Exchange Guidance
On February 7, 2019, the Health Policy News team hosted a webinar highlighting the proposed changes outlined in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) long-awaited annual Exchange guidance (proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2020 and the 2020 Draft Letter to Issuers in the Federally-facilitated Exchanges) released on January 17, 2019. ...