Congressional panels have held numerous hearings on health policy issues this month, including the following:
- The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a series of hearings on its "21st Century Cures" initiative, focusing on personalized medicine, barriers to evidence development and communication, technological innovations, the patient perspective, and modernizing clinical trials. A separate hearing focused on ACA's insurance eligibility verification system. Coming up, the Committee will examine plan "bailouts" and cancellations under the ACA (July 28) and the status of ACA payment and verification systems (July 31).
- The Ways and Means Committee held hearings on the integrity of the ACA's premium tax credit verification system and the future of Medicare Advantage health plans.
- The House Oversight Committee held a hearing on Medicare appeals reform.
- The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee examined "Policies to Spur Innovative Medical Breakthroughs from Laboratories to Patients."
- A Senate Finance Committee hearing focused on chronic illness and patients' unmet needs.
- The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee examined preventable deaths and improving patient safety. The Committee also approved a number of bipartisan bills, including S. 315, the "Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Community Assistance, Research and Education Amendments; S 2154, the Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act; S. 2405, the Trauma Systems and Regionalization of Emergency Care Reauthorization Act; S. 2406, the Improving Trauma Care Act; and S. 2539, the Traumatic Brain Injury Reauthorization Act.
This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.
