ON CAPITOL HILL - THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ++ ++++++

ON CAPITOL HILL Modern Healthcare: House Bill Would Cap Medicare Physician Pay Cuts At 2.5% https://www.modernhealthcare.com/politics-regulation/mh-house-bill-medicare-physician-pay-cuts/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_lMG5cUfZLTl5ZKBjP1O5hS1Q-nknKr2FdXTVsy6T9_KUGzukWkzxJFgd_Kkk8Qas4Ua2-iJFQqnSIXYrQ8chn7vR82w&_hsmi=411712740&utm_content=411712740&utm_source=hs_email Think of it as preventive medicine for doctor pay. A bipartisan House bill that lawmakers plan to introduce this week would cap annual Medicare physician reimbursement cuts at 2.5% while giving regulators more leeway to set annual payment updates. The Provider Reimbursement Stability Act of 2025 is far from the Medicare payment system overhaul doctors have failed to win for years and it does not include a raise for 2027. (McAuliff, 3/31) NBC News: White House Pushes Senate To Move Quickly On Casey Means Nomination https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/white-house-pushes-senate-move-quickly-casey-means-nomination-rcna266004?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9doIobmtUpoMaUYH_roIXgu3ezBmwBDr1ItaNKUM0AISHYpgEy2v6e0dmburJ-my1Tsgnr1fmtVVcbhhGyHZU41XvM0Q&_hsmi=411712740&utm_content=411712740&utm_source=hs_email The White House is calling on the Senate to confirm Dr. Casey Means as U.S. surgeon general "without further delay," even as President Donald Trump signaled uncertainty about her path forward. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he didn't know how Means was faring in the nomination process more than a month after her Senate confirmation hearing. "We have a lot of great candidates," he added. (Lovelace Jr., Kapur and Bendix, 3/31) THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION Stat: HHS Reorganizes Health IT Office To Focus On Policy Priorities https://www.statnews.com/2026/03/31/hhs-reorganizes-health-it-regulation-office-astp-onc/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--jH5MGfg3-bn-T0vb1hzncLjZEslnZtgzTmeAYQYuWcvncRwK0MESJoWe6HDZWH84SO3hccSa3mcE8BegOoo_8DzASvw&_hsmi=411712740&utm_content=411712740&utm_source=hs_email The Trump administration is changing the name of the federal health IT office back to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The Tuesday announcement also reverts the organization of the office to focus on external IT coordination, instead of also overseeing Health and Human Services’ internal use of technology. (Trang, 3/31) The New York Times: FDA Is Expected To Lift Restriction On Peptides, Heeding RFK Jr.’s Wishes https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/health/peptide-ban-fda-rfk-jr.html?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--UkajNp81SURaTOs4v7O_Bg_pZiVcpR_QrDtGY-xP2SQtqJe14LvdWv5xqqpxVDqR2LmibMsqsp6Rf6wBawOHEsD0FvA&_hsmi=411712740&utm_content=411712740&utm_source=hs_email The Food and Drug Administration is moving toward allowing compounding pharmacies to produce more than a dozen injectable peptides that were banned because of potentially significant safety risks, according to a senior administration official. In 2023, 14 peptides were removed from a list of products that the F.D.A. allows compounding pharmacies to produce. The pharmacies tailor products for individual patients’ needs. The peptides had not been approved by the F.D.A. as safe or effective and, in recent years, the agency had noted that they were increasingly being marketed with unproved claims that they had cosmetic, anti-aging and disease-fighting benefits. (Jewett and Blum, 3/31) AP: Judge Rules Trump Administration's Homeless Funding Changes Unlawful https://apnews.com/article/hud-homeless-funding-federal-court-lawsuit-82422d507fe36729d23c1de4923a6da6?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--c73gp00ZbHMb2QVTnbsY_tJjN1YfbVjLjhSr6eyuSzG97QW3Zt5Y-Eh-kBDt6G4Hn_-ZJAUdmsf04x9CjEN7U8eh79Q&_hsmi=411712740&utm_content=411712740&utm_source=hs_email A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration’s effort to dramatically change the criteria to get tens of millions of dollars in funding to aid homeless people was unlawful. Several nonprofits filed a lawsuit last year accusing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development of changing the rules for receiving $75 million to build housing for homeless families and individuals. The plaintiffs accused the Trump administration of issuing a new Notice of Funding Opportunity, or NOFO, for the Continuum of Care Builds program to better align with its social policies. (Casey, 4/1) Modern Healthcare: Over 130 Hospitals Sue HHS Over Medicare DSH Payment Changes https://www.modernhealthcare.com/providers/mh-hospitals-hhs-medicare-dsh-payment-lawsuit/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8uwhnSr2y1ZS4x3cERAPteQEMkp_Mki97kbhhWq9JkFjPPV90uCp5FggPNzGFcAMJqo6QKhwaKc82dBYF3yvY26PHQSQ&_hsmi=411712740&utm_content=411712740&utm_source=hs_email More than 130 hospitals sued the Health and Human Services Department seeking to overturn a regulation that allegedly underpays them for treating Medicare patients. Hospitals in 16 states filed a complaint alleging HHS exceeded its legal authority when it finalized a 2023 rule that retroactively changed how the agency counts inpatient stays for Medicare Advantage patients in disproportionate share hospital payments. (Kacik, 3/31) Modern Healthcare: CMS-Backed Mobile Clinics Aim To Expand Rural Healthcare Access https://www.modernhealthcare.com/post-acute-care/mh-cms-mobile-clinics-rural-healthcare-access/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--RZiJJe8RxKGjVx-fDxnnAaPW_haBf6UNqf9ggd9UObtcbJXI9CNcTVfZYNuvdD3hjlDu4TTWBlrjZL1nn16zVIBeguw&_hsmi=411712740&utm_content=411712740&utm_source=hs_email A mobile healthcare pilot could act as a roadmap for states looking to improve medical access in rural communities and for providers looking to increase revenues. Twenty-two states included mobile medical units in their plans for how to spend part of $50 billion in Rural Healthcare Transformation Program funds. To qualify for the money, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services required states to find ways to expand access to care in underserved areas through innovation. (Eastabrook, 3/31) Stat: NIH Chief Bhattacharya Sparks Debate On Vannevar Bush's Legacy https://www.statnews.com/2026/04/01/jay-bhattacharya-invoked-vannevar-bush-rolling-in-his-grave/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9HmmRoFx0GHwks79lMXCu75cuTHiN38qbVr47hx7N7ztS90Z98_5dHxefb-7n7ukFoBCMhwS5ckLWZr9D2ATX3Oi0EpA&_hsmi=411712740&utm_content=411712740&utm_source=hs_email It is perhaps not surprising that the director of the National Institutes of Health would invoke the name of a man revered by scientists as the architect of a policy widely credited with driving the United States’ global supremacy in biomedical research. But Jay Bhattacharya’s claim over the weekend that the Trump administration is pursuing a vision articulated eight decades ago by that scientific leader, Vannevar Bush, has provoked pushback — even outrage — in scientific circles. (Oza, 4/1) The Washington Post: Six Times More Federal Dollars Flow To Retirees Than Young People https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/04/01/federal-spending-boomers-gen-z/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_LSzO85-sWMuZhuDpckzAz1EbIoJ7ow47qBsVXx6jieWZjV4QDrxxxThCBc9IwgSEUTGxv7Or0i8ZnGY32VjPRg2HffQ&_hsmi=411712740&utm_content=411712740&utm_source=hs_email The federal government spends significantly more on retirees than any other age group in the United States, a sign of the breadth of Social Security and Medicare — and Americans’ determination to keep those programs going. Americans age 65 and older — generally part of the baby-boom generation or Silent Generation — received an estimated $2.7 trillion in federal outlays last year, six times more than the $449 billion for Americans under 26 years old. That ratio is only expected to grow as the population ages. (Lerman, 4/1)