June 2, 2025

Major Healthcare Changes At HHS, CMS

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Deputy Administrator Stephanie Carlton, laid out the agency’s major priorities, which include:

Major investments in technology and data sharing
Attacking fraud
Investments in artificial intelligence
Drug price reform

More details on the president’s FFY 2026 budget proposal continue to show major reductions to various agencies — an $18 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health (40%), a $3.6 billion cut to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (43%), and a $409 million cut to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (11%).

A number of new initiatives prioritized by health chief Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. are funded along with restructuring tied to the new agenda.

Additional articles: https://insidehealthpolicy.com/daily-news/advocates-blast-proposed-cuts-nih-cdc-research-programs and https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/hhs-2026-budget-nih-cuts-trump-healthcare/749510/

(Some articles may require a subscription.)

#hhs #cms #rfkjr #nih #fda #cdc

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/regulatory/cms-deputy-stephanie-carlton-lays-out-agency-priorities-0

Budget Reconciliation Questions Continue

On Meet the Press, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, defended work requirements and claimed that projections from his own budget office are wrong when it said 4.8 million would lose coverage due to work requirements, arguing they won’t lose coverage “unless they choose to do so.”

At the same time, at a Capitol Hill appearance, Democrats attacked President Trump’s budget director for claiming the reductions will not cause anyone to lose Medicaid benefits either. Several GOP senators are worried about the impacts to coverage of wide-ranging reductions.

The Senate now goes down the road of attempting to satisfy enough moderates and conservatives to get the bill passed and to make minimal changes so as not to endanger it in the House.

The state and local taxation (SALT) deduction remains controversial, with a debate about donor vs. taker states as well as red vs. blue states.

Democrats in the Senate also want the parliamentarian to weigh in on whether making the Trump tax cuts permanent violates the Byrd rule.

Additional articles: https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/5327723-mike-johnson-gop-bill-medicaid-cuts/ and https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5329416-democrats-criticize-trump-budget-medicare-cuts/ and https://thehill.com/business/5329184-salt-deduction-bill-trump/ and https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5326610-democrats-challenge-trump-tax-cuts/

(Some articles may require a subscription.)

#budgetreconciliation #trump #congress #medicaid #coverage

https://www.modernhealthcare.com/politics-policy/senate-one-big-beautiful-bill

Docs In Independent Practices Continue To Drop

A new analysis from the American Medical Association finds that the number of doctors in independent practices continues to fall. Inadequate payment rates, high resource costs, and regulatory red tape are blamed.

More and more doctors are being gobbled up by hospitals, health systems, health plans, and private equity firms. Just over 42% of physicians worked in private practices in 2024, an 18 percentage point drop from 2012. More than a third of the nation’s physicians worked in practices owned by hospitals last year, representing an 11 percentage point gain over the same period. Nearly 7% of doctors worked in firms owned by private equity, an increase compared to 2020.

Other studies show the penetration of doctors owned by health systems, private equity, and plans to be greater.

#physicians #hospitals

https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/physicians-working-in-private-practice-dips/749388

Centene Sued Over Ghost Networks

Centene is the latest insurance company to face a lawsuit accusing it of having a ghost network. The suit alleges that Centene misrepresented the scope of its provider network. Elevance Health has faced lawsuits as well.

(Article may require a subscription.)

#centene #elevancehealth

https://www.modernhealthcare.com/insurance/centene-ghost-network-lawsuit