THIS WEEK’S DOSE


CONGRESS


Government Is Funded, Congress at Home for the Week. On March 15, 2025, President Trump signed a continuing resolution (CR) into law that funds the government and provides short-term extensions of certain healthcare programs and provisions, including Medicare telehealth flexibilities and community health center funding, through September 30, 2025, the end of the fiscal year. The CR did not include a Medicare physician payment fix. Instead, Republican leadership committed to include a fix in the upcoming budget reconciliation bill to secure votes from the GOP Doctors Caucus. Given the timeline of a potential reconciliation bill, it is uncertain whether Congress will consider any mitigation to the 2025 Medicare physician payment cut that is currently in effect. The House passed the CR mostly along party lines in a 217 – 213 vote. In the Senate, after much internal debate, 10 Democrats joined all but one Republican in a 62 – 38 vote to advance the CR to a final vote, ultimately allowing Republicans to pass it with a simple majority. Congress then went home for a recess week. Both the House and Senate return on March 24, 2025, for a three-week stint until they hit a two-week April recess around the Easter and Passover holidays.

Senate Finance Committee Holds CMS Administrator Nomination Hearing. In the hearing on March 14, 2025, members from both parties discussed concerns about access to care in rural areas as well as high prior authorization and upcoding usage by Medicare Advantage (MA) insurers. Mehmet Oz, MD, agreed with members and stated that he would seek to address upcoding in MA as CMS administrator – which is notable in light of his previous outspoken endorsements of the program. Republicans focused on the insights Oz can bring to CMS as a physician, while Democrats pressed to see if Oz supports reforming or cutting Medicaid, including through work requirements.

ADMINISTRATION


President Trump Issues EO on Domestic Preparedness. The “Achieving Efficiency Through State and Local Preparedness” EO seeks to expand the role of states and localities in preparedness, which will likely have impacts on drug supply chain issues and future pandemic response. The EO directs the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, in coordination with other relevant agencies, to:

The EO also directs the secretary of homeland security to propose policy changes to improve federal-state communication. A fact sheet can be found here.

QUICK HITS


NEXT WEEK’S DIAGNOSIS


Congress will return to session on Monday to continue work on budget reconciliation. While each body has passed a budget resolution, they must now agree to and pass a unified budget resolution through both bodies in order for reconciliation to proceed. The House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee will hold a hearing on healthcare access and a markup of several healthcare-related bills, and the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade will hold a hearing on online safety. On the regulatory side, we await the release of the inpatient prospective payment system proposed rule.

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