OVERNIGHT HEALTH: GOP makes new defunding pitch

Hospitals tell CMS not to double dip: Hospitals say a proposed rule to institute the healthcare reform law’s value-based purchasing (VBP) program could force some hospitals to pay twice for the same mistake. A proposed rule detailing the VBP program, which rewards hospitals for quality of care, would penalize hospitals for hospital-acquired conditions (HACs). But the American Hospital Association says that is overkill, because another reform provision reduces payments for high HAC rates, Healthwatch’s Jason Millman reports.

Read the comments: Here’s what the AHA and the Medicare Payment Advisory Comission had to say. The public comment period closes Tuesday.

GOP lobs new reform accusations: Last week, the Obama administration touted a new report saying it paid out more than $500 million to 5,500 employers for a temporary early retiree insurance program included in healthcare reform. On Monday, Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee called the program a “slush fund” for union, state and local government workers, pointing out that they received 58 percent of the subsidies.

“With funds expected to run out nearly two years before the Democrats’ health care law is fully implemented, will the Democrats seek additional funding to prop up this program, or will they simply let these subsidy recipients become the next flock of the uninsured?” the Republicans wrote.

Support for legalized abortion edges up: So says the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which in a new survey found that 54 percent of respondents support legalized abortion in all or most cases, up from 46 percent in 2009. 

Ensign to stay put on Finance health: Scandal-plagued Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) is expected to remain as the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee’s health subcommittee until his term runs out, according to GOP sources. Ensign got the nod earlier this year when Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) became ranking member for the full committee. Ensign announced Monday that he’s retiring next year. 

Patent reform moves forward: Bipartisan patent reform legislation was expected to clear the cloture hurdle in the Senate Monday evening, setting the stage for Senate passage this week. The bill, which critics say favors large corporations over upstarts, has ramifications for the prescription drug and medical device industries.

Docs drop red-flags suit: The American Medical Association (AMA) announced Monday that it has dropped its lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after a federal appeals court ruled that doctors aren’t creditors. Read The Hill story.

Friends in high places: A number of groups on Monday filed “friend of the court” briefs with the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is hearing Virginia’s successful challenge of the reform law. Those filing briefs backing the Obama Administration include: the AARP, American Cancer Society and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (D), who lost a special Senate election to Sen. Scott Brown (R) last year.

Coakley cites Romney: Coakley compared the Democrats’ 2010 healthcare law to the Massachusetts reform enacted under Romney. She writes: “Massachusetts submits this amicus brief in support of the [law] because its experience demonstrates that Congress had a rational basis for concluding that free-riding by individuals, taken in aggregate, has a substantial effect upon interstate commerce, and that reducing or eliminating free-riding has a salutary impact on the health insurance market as a whole.”

Elephant in the room: Former Republican National Committee
Chairman Michael Steele said Mitt Romney must assuage concerns about his
healthcare law if he wants to win the GOP presidential nomination, The
Hill’s Jordan Fabian writes.

Drumming up FDA support: A coalition of drug makers and consumer advocates is spreading the word about the Food and Drug Administration’s role in the national economy as Republicans weigh sharp cuts to the agency. The House GOP lawmakers want to slash $400 million from the Obama’s fiscal 2011 FDA request, while the agency is seeking a 23 percent increase from fiscal 2010 to help pay for enhanced food safety regulations enacted last year. Read The Hill story.

Rate notice outlined: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services proposed consumer disclosure notices that insurers would have
to complete and report electronically when proposing a rate increase of
more than 10 percent. The proposed notice offers: the size of the
increase, the driving factors behind the increase, medical service
costs, recent rate history and how the firm spends rate dollars. Here is
a sample notice.

Football safety: Energy and Commerce Democrats requested a hearing on football helmets and player safety.

New lobbying registrations (since Friday): Bockorny Group / Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (tax issues); Cardenas Partners / Broward Health Trust.

Tuesday’s agenda:

AHIP conference hits town: America’s Health Insurance Plans policy forum kicks off tomorrow with some notable guests, including embattled CMS Administrator Don Berwick. Other speaks on Tuesday: Steve Larsen, director of the HHS Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight; Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors; and top healthcare lawyers for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Senate Finance Committee and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the Finance panel’s ranking member. 

Health Affairs celebrates healthcare innovators: The policy journal Health Affairs marks its March issue with a briefing on “Profiles of Innovation in Health Care Delivery.”

Topics of discussion will include:

Innovation Profiles: How 15 health systems, health plans and others are restructuring care delivery;

Implementing Electronic Health Records: Issues for physician practices in achieving “meaningful use”; and

The Care Span:  New Directions in Long-term Services and Supports.

Speakers include David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; Melinda Buntin, Director of Economic Analysis and Chief Scientist with the Office of the National Coordinator; and Hoangmai H. Pham, Senior Advisor, Center for Innovation, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Revere America poll slams healthcare reform: The free-market Revere America hosts a call-in news conference at 2:30 p.m. to release the results of a new national poll about Democrats’ healthcare reform law. We’re guessing it won’t be flattering.

Fiscal commission gets hearing: Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowels, the co-chairs of the presidential fiscal commission, testify about their report to the Senate Budget Committee. The report, filed last December, called soaring healthcare spending the nation’s greatest fiscal challenge.

Reading list:

In Massachusetts, unions are pitching their own solutions for curbing healthcare spending, the Boston Globe reports.

Time looks at legal challenges to the healthcare reform law.

Transplant patients are hurt by Arizona’s budgets cuts, Reuters reports. 

Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser and Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist argue for Planned Parenthood defunding in the National Review. 

Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman, which says it’s the largest healthcare-focused firm in the country, launched a new healthcare real estate blog.

What you might have missed on Healthwatch: 

The number of healthcare reform law waivers now tops 1,000.

Democrats are warning that budget cuts threaten Medicare enrollment.

Pharmacists are gearing up to blitz Capitol Hill on medication bill.

Backers doubt states will find alternatives to healthcare mandate.

Comments / complaints / suggestions? 

Please let us know:

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

Jason Millman: jmillman@digital-staging.thehill.com / 202-628-8351