This Week in Washington: House Appropriations Committee marks up FY2025 Labor-HHS-Education and the Agriculture- FDA and Related Agencies funding bills; Senate Appropriations Committee marks up FY2025 Agriculture-FDA and Related Agencies funding bill; CMS releases CY2025 Physician Fee Schedule and the Hospital Outpatient PPS proposed rules.
House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is in a district work period.
Senate
The Senate is in a state work period.
House of Representatives
House Appropriations Committee Marks Up FY2025 Labor-HHS-Ed and FDA-Agriculture Funding Bills
On July 10, the House Appropriations Committee marked up and reported out of committee the fiscal year (FY) 2025 Labor-HHS-Education funding bill and the Agriculture-Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies funding bill.
The Labor-HHS funding bill would:
- Fund HHS at $107 billion, $8.5 billion less than in FY2024;
- Reorganize the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 27 institutes and centers into 15 entities and move the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health into the NIH.
- Reduce funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding by 22 percent and eliminate 23 programs;
- Maintain overall funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at $48 billion, but increase funding for the National Cancer Institute;
- Decrease Title X family planning grants and prevent federal funds from being used for abortion;
- Maintain funding for the HHS Office for Civil Rights at $40 million;
- Increase funding for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Substance Use Prevention Block Grant; and
- Allocate $400 million to prevent rural hospital closures and increase rural residency programs.
- Reduces funding for HIV initiatives by $554 million, but increases funding for viral hepatitis prevention by $10 million.
In the accompanying committee report, the Committee opposes the administration’s proposal to use the Bayh-Dole “march-in” rights as a tool to lower drug prices; urges changes ot the Medicare drug price negotiation time line for small molecule drugs that taret rate, genetic-based diseases; and calls for 340B reform to keep drug manufacurers from limiting the number of contract pharmacies that can dispense discounted drugs; and calls for changes in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’proposed changes to the Medicaid drug rebate program.
The Agriculture-FDA and Related Agencies funding bill would:
- Fund the FDA at $6.75 billion, $22 million less than in FY2024;
- Require the FDA to focus on regulating e-cigarettes before imposing more reglations on tobacco products;
- Retain the gene editing provision, which prohibits the “editing” of heritable genes or altering of genes that can be passed on to offspring.
For more information, click here.
Senate
Senate Passes Drug Patent Thicket Reform Bill
On July 11, the Senate passed S.150, Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2023. The legislation seeks to lower prescription drug costs and would:
- Prevent drug manufacturers from using patent thickets and other tactics to delay the entry to market of generic medications and biosimilar products;
- Prohibit manufacturers from intentionally shifting demand away from a generic to a modified version of a brand drug when facing competition, a practice known as “product hopping;” and
- Authorize the Federal Trade Commission to enforce product hopping prohibitions and impose limits on patent litigation concerning biologics.
The bill was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2023 but was not brought to the Senate floor earlier despite calls from patient advocacy groups and senators.
For more information, click here.
Senate Appropriations Committee Marks Up FY2025 Agriculture-Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Funding Bill
On July 11, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up and reported out of committee the fiscal year (FY) 2025 Agriculture-FDA and Related Agencies funding bill. The bill would:
- Provide $27 billion in total funding, $821 million more than FY2024;
- Fund the FDA at $6.87 billion, $22 million more than FY2024;
- Increase funding for the Neurology Drug Program by $3 million;
- Fund the Tobacco Task Force at $2 million;
- Increase funding for cosmetics oversight by $1 million and antimicrobial research by $1 million; and
- Include $55 million for implementation of the 21st Century Cures Act.
Compared to the House funding bill, the Senate bill provides $44 million more in discretionary funding.
For more information, click here.
Senate HELP Committee Holds Hearing Concerning Medical Debt
On July 11, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing concerning medical debt. Members discussed hospital service price transparency, the impact of pharmacy benefit managers and private equity firms in healthcare and whether nonprofit hospitals are passing 340B drug savings along to patients. Witnesses were:
- Abdul El-Sayed, MD, DPhil, Director and Health Officer, Wayne County Dept. of Health, Human and Veterans Services
- Luke Messac, MD, PhD, Attending Physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Instructor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School
- Allyson Ward, Advanced Practice Nurse, Neonatal Nurse, Practitioner-Board Certified, The University of Chicago
- Fumiko Ladd Chino, MD, Radiation Oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Ge Bai, PhD, CPA, Professor of Accounting and Health Policy, Johns Hopkins University
- Benedic Ippolito, PhD, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
For more information, click here.
Senate Special Committee on Aging Holds Hearing Regarding Healthcare Costs and Transparency
On July 11, the Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing regarding healthcare costs and transparency. Members discussed the impacts of prescription drug costs and private equity ownership of healthcare providers. Members also discussed site-neutral payments and self-funded health plans’ access to claims data. Witnesses were:
- Dr. Chris Whaley, PhD, Associate Director of the Center for Advocating Health Policy through Research, Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice, Brown University School of Public Health
- Chris Deacon, JD, Principal Owner of VerSan Consulting, LLC
- Cora Opsahl, MBA, Health Fund Director of 32BJ Health Fund
- Sophia Tripoli, MPH, Senior Director of Health Policy at Families USA
For more information, click here.
Read more on healthcare policy in McGuireWoods Consulting’s Washington Healthcare Update.