BECERRA TALKS CYBER MANDATES — The Biden administration proposes significant penalties for hospitals that don't adopt minimum cybersecurity standards and also offers incentives for cybersecurity upgrades, Chelsea reports. The move comes in the wake of a massive hack at Change Healthcare that’s upended provider payments, though the HHS has signaled that mandates are coming before that attack. The penalties would begin in fiscal 2029. Hospitals that fail to adopt essential cybersecurity practices would face penalties up to 100 percent of the annual market basket increase, with penalties escalating in fiscal 2031. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters Monday it would take “a little bit of both” federal rulemaking and Congress to implement mandates. Becerra added that “it’s not an option” for hospitals to not adopt cybersecurity standards. He pointed to a cybersecurity plan the agency released in December, which he said offers support to health care entities as they set up the systems needed to protect sensitive information. “It can be difficult to adopt some of these new technologies and have a system that will be operable in years to come … so we understand that can be a dicey proposition,” Becerra said. Hospitals’ take: The American Hospital Association called the budget proposal “misguided” and said “it will not improve the overall cyber security posture of the healthcare sector.” “The AHA cannot support proposals for mandatory cybersecurity requirements being levied on hospitals as if they were at fault for the success of hackers in perpetrating a crime,” the group said in a statement. GOP GRAPPLES WITH THE MEANING OF PRO-LIFE ON IVF — The anti-abortion movement and Republican lawmakers marched in lock step for decades against the common enemy of Roe v. Wade. But they’re clashing in the post-Roe era over what it means to be “pro-life,” Megan and Alice report. Amid an outcry over an Alabama Supreme Court decision last month ruling that frozen embryos are children, Republican lawmakers in Congress and statehouses have drawn the ire of anti-abortion groups by pushing legislation to protect IVF access. The rift over the legislation underscores the deepening divide between the GOP and the anti-abortion movement as Republicans grapple with the political and policy consequences of passing laws that say life begins at conception. “Frankly, a lot of Republican lawmakers are not in touch with conservative principles because they have not taken sufficient time to think through what those principles are,” said Jameson Taylor, director of policy and legislative affairs for the Mississippi-based American Family Association Action. Some Republicans have dismissed the criticism of the bills, arguing that protecting IVF is a “pro-life” position. “I’ve had some negative comments from extreme pro-life type folks,” said Missouri state Rep. Bill Allen, a Republican who has introduced pro-IVF legislation. “But I’m pro-life. This is bringing life into the world.” In Alabama, the anti-abortion movement has condemned legislation passed by the state’s Republican supermajority legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Kay Ivey last week aimed at preserving access to IVF. In Mississippi, the movement and its GOP allies have called a Republican-backed proposal to protect IVF the “greatest assault on the cause of life that we’ve seen in Mississippi in a long time.” And in Congress, the anti-abortion movement has promised to ding GOP lawmakers if they support pro-IVF bills they believe go too far, including a nonbinding resolution introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) earlier this month.
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