Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

The Top Three...

AP: Vaccine-Makers Unlikely To Split MMR Shots Despite Trump's Push Public health experts have been quick to condemn an executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at upending childhood vaccinations in the U.S., but the biggest obstacles may be the unprecedented financial and logistical challenges it would impose on parents, health providers and drugmakers. Monday’s announcement by the Republican president calls for separating combination shots — including the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine — into separate injections. Appointments for that and other vaccinations should be spaced out whenever possible, the order states. (Perrone, 8/13)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Targets Hospitals Over Gender-Affirming Care Billing Hundreds of healthcare businesses have been referred to federal law enforcement for investigation over allegations of improper billing for minors’ gender-affirming care. More than 200 hospitals, health systems, physicians offices, pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers, federally qualified health centers and other health organizations were referred to the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General in a Wednesday letter from Secretary Robert F. Kennedy. (Early, 8/13)

Modern Healthcare: Rural Health Transformation Program May Fall Short, Senators Fear One of the keys to passing President Donald Trump’s tax law last summer was the creation of the Rural Health Transformation Program. The program’s $50 billion fund played an instrumental role in getting a handful of wavering lawmakers on board, after they flagged the impact the law’s $1 trillion Medicaid cuts could have on rural hospitals. (McAuliff, 8/13)

For a Deeper Dive...

The Washington Post: Group Sues AMA Seeking Transparency Over Medicare Billing Codes A health care advocacy group on Thursday sued the American Medical Association in an effort to get more transparency over the association’s billing codes, which guide billions of dollars in health care payments. PatientRightsAdvocate.org hopes to republish the codes online and allow the public to search them free. The group, which has pushed for health care transparency, is challenging the AMA’s copyright over its billing-code system, known as the Current Procedural Terminology or CPT. (Diamond, 8/13)

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A few years ago I started a weekly e-mail for friends and colleagues who want to keep up on major federal health policy developments but did not have time to plod through all the minutiae--they were busy doing important things like running organizations and taking care of patients! Much to my surprise, it became pretty popular. I have now converted to a weekly newsletter format so you can manage your own subscription preferences and forward to others that might be interested.

These summaries represent my judgement on health policy issues that may not on the front pages, but are relevant to clinicians, administrators, and educators. I monitor many news sources and clipping services to identify content for this newsletter and I try hard to be as factual, balanced, and non-partisan as possible. While the articles are written by others (with credit attributed), the choice of what to include is entirely mine. If you are interested in receiving a daily summary of health policy news, you might consider signing up for the KHN Morning Briefing. If you enjoy podcasts, I suggest What the Health? and Tradeoffs.

-Gregg S. Margolis, PhD