FY 2025 HOSPITAL PAYMENT BUMP — CMS finalized a rule that gives a $3.2 billion boost to inpatient hospital payment rates starting October 1, POLITICO’s Robert King reports. The agency released a final rule Thursday that increased the fiscal 2025 payment rate by 2.9 percent compared with fiscal 2024, which ends in September. The rule will also pay smaller hospitals more money to keep certain vital medicines in stock to mitigate shortages. The rule is likely to draw pushback from hospital groups that complained it wasn’t enough to offset rising costs when CMS first proposed the increase earlier this year. Additionally, CMS will give smaller and independent hospitals a separate payment if they keep a buffer stock of essential medicines. “These hospitals are particularly vulnerable to supply disruptions during shortages because they lack the resources of hospitals that are larger and/or are part of a chain organization,” according to a CMS fact sheet on the rule. CMS hinted the program could expand to other hospitals. NIH LOSES COURT BATTLE — The National Institutes of Health violated animal rights activists’ right to free speech, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled this week, Erin reports. PETA, and two other activist groups, successfully argued that the NIH violated the First Amendment when the agency put keyword filters on online forums, blocking comments containing words like “animal,” “testing” and “cruel.” NIH didn’t make a reasonable case for excluding those terms, the court found, writing that the government “must be able to articulate some sensible basis for distinguishing what may come in from what must stay out.” The court also warned: “The government should tread carefully when enforcing any speech restriction to ensure it is not viewpoint discriminatory and does not inappropriately censor criticism or exposure of governmental actions.” Big picture: Other health agencies have been taken to task over their social media strategies this year. In March, the FDA settled a lawsuit over a cheeky tweet it posted about the drug ivermectin during the pandemic’s height, which read: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.” What's next: NIH would not comment on pending litigation. DIGITAL HEALTH COMMITTEE NAMED — The FDA named the members of its new Digital Health Advisory Committee on Thursday. The committee is responsible for advising the FDA on the use of digital health technologies as medical products or parts of medical products. The committee, set to meet in November, will be chaired by Ami B. Bhatt, chief innovation officer at the American College of Cardiology, with James Swink as designated federal officer. Members are Dr. Ray Dorsey, professor of neurology at the University of Rochester; Dr. Yaniv Kerem, ER physician at Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center; Joyce Ho, associate professor of computer science at Emory University; Jessica Jackson, founder and CEO of Therapy Is For Everyone; Dr. Thomas Maddox, professor of medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine; and Dr. Chevon Rariy, chief health officer and SVP digital health at Oncology Care Partners.
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment