CMS Proposes Changes To Industry Sunshine Act Disclosure Rules

CMS Proposes Changes To Industry Sunshine Act Disclosure Rules-thegraysheet: Device firms would be required to report the brand name of products as part of payment disclosures to CMS’ Open Payment database under revisions to the disclosure requirements proposed July 3. Further, under the proposed revisions, payments made to speakers at certain continuing medical education events would no longer be exempt from disclosure to the public database.

The Crazy Way the Government Buys Billions of Dollars of Drugs - Businessweek

The Crazy Way the Government Buys Billions of Dollars of Drugs - Businessweek: "The government pays vastly different prices for medicines depending on which office is buying them, according to a new report (PDF) from the Government Accountability Office."

FDA aims to stay the course in new 4-year plan

FDA aims to stay the course in new 4-year plan-massdevice: The FDA today revealed a draft version of its 4-year plan, laying out strategic priorities and goals for keeping patients and consumers safe while addressing industry concerns. The agency highlighted 5 primary areas of concern: regulatory science, globalization, safety & quality, smart regulation and stewardship. Regulators plan to focus on these areas over the next 4 years in order to help speed innovations to market, provide the public with the best health information and ensure the security of regulated products.

What a Republican Senate Majority May Mean for ObamaCare | Morning Consult

What a Republican Senate Majority May Mean for ObamaCare | Morning Consult: "This much, we know: if Republicans regain both houses in January 2015, health policy in the 114th Congress will be dominated by a showdown between a Republican Congress and a Democratic White House over the future of Obamacare. The challenge for Republicans will be how to balance the desire of the party faithful for repealing Obamacare with the reality that President Obama would never permit it under his watch."

Reforming the VA one step at a time

Reforming the VA one step at a time-politico: Congress is poised to pass the most significant reforms to the Department of Veterans Affairs in nearly two decades — but don’t expect quick fixes to the layers of rot at the agency. The House and Senate have passed bills responding to revelations that veterans died after the VA delayed providing medical care. But the measures don’t change the VA employees’ habit of gaming the system, covering up problems and punishing whistleblowers who try to sound the alarm — the “corrosive culture” that White House deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors warned about in a report to President Barack Obama last week.

Senators Ask CMS To Allow Public Input When Setting Doctor Pay Rates

Senators Ask CMS To Allow Public Input When Setting Doctor Pay Rates-insidehealthpolicy: Piggybacking on a bipartisan House request, a dozen senators are urging CMS to make public the process of setting values for physician services, which would take away some of the influence the American Medical Association's RUC has over billing codes. CMS is poised to propose the 2015 Physician Fee Schedule, and lawmakers complain the agency traditionally has waited until the final version of that annual rule to include revised values for physician services, shutting out public comment on the RUC-driven values. "We respectfully request that you strongly consider revising the current process by publishing these reimbursement changes to existing codes in the annual physician fee schedule proposed rule," the senators write.

Waste, errors in health care remain huge issues, experts agree

Waste, errors in health care remain huge issues, experts agree-politico: Despite health care industry concerns about wasteful and unnecessary care, it’s nearly impossible for patients to overrule their doctors when they think they’re getting a procedure they don’t need, a prominent patient care advocate argued Tuesday. “I’ve had four unnecessary EKGs,” Daniel Wolfson, executive vice president of the ABIM Foundation, said at a POLITICO Pro Health Care breakfast briefing at the Newseum. “I think it’s an uphill battle for the patient to talk a physician out of a procedure.”