OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Assault on CLASS Act resumes

SGR we really doing this again? In another bit of news reminiscent of 2011, Congress is having to once again figure out how to avoid an almost 30 percent cut to physicians’ Medicare payment rates starting March 1. Lawmakers delayed the scheduled last month but their latest short-term patch runs out at the end of next month.

Hospitals are worried they’ll bear the brunt of the cuts needed to pay for a longer-term fix. On Tuesday, teaching hospitals and the American Hospital Association ramped up the pressure on lawmakers to tax the man behind the tree, thank you very much.

{mosads}Healthwatch’s Julian Pecquet has more on those efforts here and here.

In other Capitol Hill news, pharmacy benefit managers launched a new ad campaign Tuesday just as Congress weighs a controversial merger between two of the industry’s biggest players. Healthwatch’s Sam Baker has more on the ad campaign here.

And Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.), a leader in the fight against prescription drug abuse, accused federal regulators of being asleep at the switch when they failed to issue a recall of mislabeled painkillers. Healthwatch has more on the congresswoman’s blistering letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg here.

Finally, amicus briefs keep flowing in as the Supreme Court prepares for a landmark challenge to President Obama’s healthcare law. Wednesday, 100 economists signed on to a new brief challenging the law’s Medicaid expansion. The brief, filed by the American Action Forum, says state budget couldn’t realistically support a decision to leave the Medicaid program, which is legally voluntary. Read the brief here.

Wednesday’s agenda

Research agenda: The Board of Governors of the healthcare law’s Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) starts a two-day meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., to discuss national priorities and a research agenda. Here’s the agenda for the meeting.

Medicaid and CHIP: The Kaiser Family Foundation releases its annual 50-state survey of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program eligibility, enrollment, renewal and cost sharing policies. The study is conducted in conjunction with the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families.

State by state

A California Senate panel took another crack at creating a single-payer healthcare system.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is under pressure by the Tea Party to reject federal funding that could be used to implement President Obama’s healthcare law.

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard, a Republican, ruled out pursuing legislation to establish a health insurance exchange during this year’s legislative session.

Reg watch

The Obama administration on Tuesday announced a “Healthy New Year Video Challenge” that rewards contestants who create videos showing how they’ll use health information technology to achieve a New Year’s resolution. Healthwatch has more.

Lobbying registrations

The Connolly Group / California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists

Reading list

Researchers don’t always get journalism, The Guardian explains.

The Romanian government has reinstated a top healthcare official whose sacking had sparked a wave of street protests over healthcare reform, Al Jazeera reports.

Switching to electronic health records might help close health gaps between black and white Americans, Reuters reports.

Comments / complaints / suggestions? Please let us know:

Julian Pecquet: jpecquet@digital-staging.thehill.com / 202-628-8527

Sam Baker: sbaker@digital-staging.thehill.com / 202-628-8351

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