The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 19.  Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents.

Provider Relief Fund:  Reminder That Applications Are Now Being Accepted

  • The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has opened its portal for providers to apply for $25.5 billion in health care relief funds, including $8.5 billion in American Rescue Plan resources for providers that serve rural patients covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program and $17 billion for Provider Relief Fund Phase 4 grants, for a broad range of providers that have experienced changes in operating revenues and expenses as a result of the COVID-19 emergency.  The application deadline is October 26.  Go here for further information.

The White House

Department of Health and Human Services

COVID-19

  • HHS has renewed its declaration of a public health emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  It now extends until January 16, 2022.
  • HHS’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) performed an audit to identify actions that selected states took or planned to take to ensure that Medicaid beneficiaries continued to receive prescription drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Find its audit report here.
  • HHS’s OIG has updated its work plan to add a review of nursing home reporting of COVID-19 data to the National Healthcare Safety Network.  Go here to see the updated OIG work plan and here for additional information about the new review.
  • HHS’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is seeking scientific information submissions from the public to inform its review of telehealth during COVID–19.  For more information about the kind of input the agency seeks, see its request for information notice in the Federal Register.  The deadline for submissions is November 12.
  • On Thursday, September 30, the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force held its seventh public meeting to vote on a final slate of recommendations for mitigating health inequities caused or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and for preventing such inequities in the future.  For a summary and links to video of the meeting, go here.

Health Policy News

  • HHS has announced the availability of $100 million in American Rescue Plan funding for state-run programs that support, recruit, and retain primary care clinicians who live and work in underserved communities.  This funding seeks to help improve health equity by ensuring that clinicians working in high-need communities remain in them.  HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Health Workforce is accepting applications for these grants from all 50 states, Washington D.C., and U.S. territories.  HRSA estimates it will make up to 50 awards of up to $1 million a year over the program’s four-year project period.  Learn more about the funding from this HHS announcement and go here to learn about HRSA’s State Loan Repayment Program.  Applications are due April 8, 2022.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Health Policy News

  • CMS has published the latest installment of MLN Connects, its online newsletter.  The new edition includes articles about submitting claims for pneumonia vaccines, correct billing practices for non-physician outpatient services provided during or shortly after inpatient stays, changes in the Laboratory National Determination Edit Software for January of 2022, and more.  Find it all here.
  • CMS’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has published evaluations of three model programs:  the Maryland Total Cost of Care Model, the Vermont All-Payer Accountable Care Organization Model, and the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model.  Find the new evaluations here.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Food and Drug Administration

  • The FDA has awarded 11 new clinical trial research grants worth more than $25 million over the next four years through its Orphan Products Grants Program to clinical investigators to support the development of medical products for patients with rare diseases.  Learn more about the grant recipients and the research they are pursuing in this FDA news release.
  • The FDA has approved an abbreviated new drug application for propofol injectable emulsion single patient-use vials.  This drug is an intravenous general anesthetic and sedation drug listed in the FDA Drug Shortage Database that is used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.  Learn more from the FDA announcement.

National Institutes of Health

  • The NIH has published preliminary technical research on the effectiveness of mixing different sources of COVID-19 vaccines when receiving booster shots.
  • The NIH reports that a clinical trial has found that treatment with the immunomodulator interferon beta-1a plus the antiviral remdesivir was not superior to treatment with remdesivir alone in hospitalized adults with COVID-19 pneumonia.  In addition, in a subgroup of patients who required high-flow oxygen, investigators found that interferon beta-1a was associated with more adverse events and worse outcomes.  Learn more in this NIH news release.
  • New NIH-funded research suggests how certain treatments are effective for patients with COVID-19 who develop multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).  Learn more in this NIH news release.
  • The NIH announced that it has issued contract awards totaling $77.7 million to develop and manufacture new rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19.  The home and point-of-care testing platforms target the need for high-performance, low-cost home tests and point-of-care tests that can potentially detect multiple respiratory infections.  Learn more from this NIH news release.
  • The NIH has awarded 11 grants worth $58 million over five years to focus on interventions to address health disparities and advance health equity.  The grants were awarded based on the significance of the research problem, the novelty of the idea or approach, and the magnitude of the potential impact rather than on preliminary data or experimental details.  Learn more from this NIH news release.

Department of Education

  • The Department of Education has introduced a new resource, which it calls “Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral and Mental Health,” that outlines key challenges in providing and accessing mental health supports in schools and provides evidence-based recommendations for educators, staff, and providers to create a system of supports for students with behavioral health needs and their families.  Learn more from this White House fact sheet and from the publication Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral and Mental Health.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

  • The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has published advice for talking to parents about getting their children vaccinated against COVID-19.  Learn more from this news release.

Stakeholder Events

HRSA – New Provider Relief Fund and Rural Hospital Grants – October 21

The Health Resources and Services Administration will hold web events on Thursday, October 21 for providers interested in pursuing Provider Relief Fund grants and funding for rural hospitals provided through the American Rescue Plan.  The purpose of these events is to provide guidance on how to navigate the application portal for seeking such grants.  To register for the October 21 webcast, go here.

CDC – Information about Recent Updates to CDC’s Recommendations for COVID-19 Boosters

On Tuesday, October 26 the CDC will provide an overview for clinicians of the most recent recommendations for administering COVID-19 booster vaccines and updates about the latest recommendations and clinical considerations for administering those boosters.  Go here for further information about the webinar and how to participate.

CDC – Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccines – November 4

The CDC will hold a webinar on Thursday, November 4 to provide an overview of its recommendations and clinical considerations for administering COVID-19 vaccines to children between the ages of five and eleven years old.  Go here for further information about the webinar and how to participate.