This Week in Washington: House Passes FDA User Fee Reauthorization Package   Congress House House to Consider the ARPA-H Act On June 20, the House will consider H.R. 5585, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Health (ARPA-H) Act. The bill would establish ARPA-H, a new biomedical research agency, within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The bill would also require ARPA-H to coordinate with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Medicare…

This Week in Washington: Senate Fails to Advance Bill Protecting Abortion Rights After Supreme Court Draft Opinion Leak Congress House House Committee on Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Advances ARPA-H Bill On May 11, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health voted to advance the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Health (ARPA-H) Act. The bill would house the new ARPA-H agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This differs from HHS’s…

This Week in Washington: CMS announces the 2023 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters Final Rule Congress House Republican Healthy Future Task Force Announces Solutions to Drug Costs and Increasing Access to Cures On April 29, the Healthy Future Task Force announced its solutions for lowering drug costs and increasing the availability of cures and therapies. The Healthy Future Task Force is a 17-member task force that is working to develop healthcare policy solutions that…

This Week in Washington: White House Releases National Drug Control Strategy   Congress House Reps. Rodgers, Guthrie and Griffith Call on Secretary Becerra to Investigate Cause of Overdose Deaths On April 20, Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA) wrote to Health and Human Services Department (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra calling for the Department to investigate the cause of overdose deaths in the U.S. Reps. Porter, DeLauro and Schakowsky and…

This Week in Washington: COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Extended for 90 More Days Congress The House and Senate are in a district work period this week. Senate Bipartisan Group Calls on Naloxone Manufacturers to Apply for Over-the-Counter Status On April 12, Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Angus King (I-ME) along with Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Brian Fitzpatrick wrote to seven manufacturers of naloxone, encouraging them to apply for over-the-counter status. Naloxone…

This Week in Washington: President Biden Releases Budget Request Congress House House Passes the Affordable Insulin Now Act On March 31, the House passed the Affordable Insulin Now Act with a vote of 232-193. The bill, introduced by Reps. Angie Craig (D-MN), Dan Kildee (D-MI) and Lucy McBath (D-GA), would cap insulin costs at $35 a month. The bill would also limit cost sharing in private plans to either $35 or 25 percent of the…

This Week in Washington: Senate Questions Supreme Court Justice Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson CongressHouse Reps. Kind, McKinley, Barragán and Carter Introduce Bill to Expand Medicare Coverage of Pharmacy Services On March 24, Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI), David McKinley (R-WV), Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA) and Buddy” Carter (R-GA) introduced the Equitable Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act. The bill would make it so pharmacy services are covered under Medicare Part B. Services covered would include…