ON OCTOBER 22, NVHPF HOSTED
MEDICARE DRUG NEGOTIATIONS: THE CURRENT STATUS, THE POTENTIAL IMPACT
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is advancing toward their second round of price negotiations with American pharmaceutical companies. The first round of negotiations focused on lowering the prices of ten high-cost drugs. The second round will include fifteen additional drugs and will be announced February 1, 2025. These ongoing negotiations between CMS and pharmaceutical companies could bring about landmark changes for healthcare in the United States.
John O’Brien, President of the National Pharmaceutical Council, and Jason Spangler, Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Innovation & Value Research, joined the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum on October 22 to share their perspectives on the current process and future developments related to price reductions.
A recording of the event is available below. Download a summary here.
ON SEPTEMBER 17, NVHPF HOSTED
ACA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
As the Affordable Care Act (ACA) approaches its fifteenth anniversary, it stands as one of the most significant healthcare reforms in U.S. history. The landmark legislation has not only expanded Medicaid to millions of low-income Americans but also revolutionized access to health insurance through the creation of state and federal exchanges. The result has been a dramatic reduction in the number of uninsured.
The legislation has survived both legal and political challenges since its passage, but has survived and has expanded coverage. This January will mark another critical moment for the law, depending on the outcomes of the Presidential and Congressional elections. Additionally, the enhanced subsidies in the ACA Marketplace are scheduled to expire at the end of next year. If they are not extended, millions of Americans could face significant increases in their premiums or even find themselves unable to afford health insurance at all.
On September 17, we hosted a conversation with two experts uniquely positioned to discuss the current status of the ACA and its future trajectory:
-Jeff Wu, Deputy Director for Policy for the CMS Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, and
-Kris Haltmeyer, Vice President of Policy Analysis for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
Watch program highlights or the event in its entirety below.
ON JULY 17, NVHPF HOSTED
AHRQ LEADERSHIP ON EVIDENCE TO TRANSFORM CARE
As Chief Strategy Officer of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Dr. Arlene Bierman oversees critical research designed to improve the United States’ healthcare system’s safety, quality, accessibility, equitability, and affordability. With a budget of more than $550 million, AHRQ investigates wide-ranging and key questions, including the impact of digital tools on patient engagement and healthcare outcomes; the intersection of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status with healthcare disparities; and strategies for preventing and controlling healthcare-associated infections.
Dr. Bierman is an internist and geriatrician who has dedicated her career to improving the access, quality, and outcomes of healthcare for older adults with chronic illnesses in underserved populations. She joined the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum on July 17 to discuss AHRQ’s work as well as the funding opportunities it offers for advancing healthcare research.
Watch program highlights or the event in its entirety below.
ON MAY 22, NVHPF HOSTED
CMS LEADERSHIP IN DISCUSSION OF THE PROGRESS OF VALUE-BASED CARE
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is leading the charge toward a healthcare system that it says will reward the quality of care over the quantity of care. The agency’s goal marks a shift from the traditional fee-for-service model that pays based on the number of services given, and it instead aims to incentivize providers to deliver coordinated, patient-centered, high-quality care. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMS Innovation Center) has launched over 50 models to test alternative approaches to paying for care since it was established in 2010. In 2021, the agency announced its goal of establishing accountable care relationships for all Medicare beneficiaries and most Medicaid beneficiaries by 2030 as part of a strategy refresh guiding the CMS Innovation Center’s goals and priorities moving forward.
On May 22, NVHPF welcomed Purva Rawal, PhD, Chief Strategy Officer at the CMS Innovation Center, and Dilipan Sundaramoorthy, Special Assistant to the Chief Strategy Officer, for a discussion of the Innovation Center’s progress toward wide integration of value-based programs, efforts to advance health equity, and the future of accountable care.
Watch the event in its entirety below. Download a summary here.
OTHER 2024 EVENTS
APRIL: WHAT’S NEXT IN HEALTHCARE, THE DEFINING TRENDS TO FOLLOW
Jonah Comstock, Editor-in-Chief of pharmaphorum; Ben Leonard, healthcare reporter at POLITICO; and John Wilkerson, Washington Correspondent at STAT News, joined the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum on Wednesday, April 24, to share their insights on what is ahead in healthcare for Congress, providers, patients, and the industry.
Watch program highlights or the event in its entirety below. Download a summary here.
MARCH: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: INSIGHTS AND INNOVATIONS IN TOMORROW’S HEALTHCARE
At Houston Methodist, a core team of health and technology professionals, self-described as “Digital Innovation Obsessed People,” leads the hospital’s Center for Innovation. Their mandate: drive new pilots and programs that will facilitate success across the healthcare spectrum. Roberta Schwartz, PhD, MHS, is the Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at the Houston Methodist healthcare system. She joined the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum on March 20 to share her front-line view of the future of AI in healthcare as well as the existing innovations shaping our present-day healthcare system.
Watch highlights or the event in its entirety below. Download a summary here.
FEBRUARY: AN EXAMINATION OF THE MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PROGRAM
On February 28, 2024, the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum hosted Meredith Freed, Senior Policy Manager at KFF’s Program on Medicare Policy, and Gregory Berger, Principal Policy Advisor for Government Relations at Kaiser Permanente, for a discussion of Medicare Advantage.
Watch the highlights or the event in its entirety below. Download a summary here.
JANUARY: EXPLORING TOMORROW’S PAIN RELIEF
On January 23, 2024, the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum hosted Sanjay Sinha, MD, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Gate Science and Lead Anesthesiologist at the Connecticut Joint Replacement Institute, and Dru Riddle, PhD, DNP, CRNA, FAAN, President of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology in a discussion of promising non-opioid approaches to pain control and the necessary steps to ensure their availability to patients who might otherwise be put at risk for opioid abuse.
Watch highlights of the event or a full-length video below. Download a summary here.
2023 EVENTS
October 24, 2023: The Future of Diagnostic Testing
Diagnostic tests continue to rapidly evolve, allowing healthcare professionals to deliver personalized, precise, and expeditious results to their patients. Nevertheless, government agencies responsible for regulating and reimbursing these cutting-edge technologies often appear to lag behind. What measures can be implemented to ensure accessible and affordable access to novel diagnostic tools while simultaneously sustaining incentives for the companies investing in their development?
Anna Scrimenti, Associate Director of Public Policy and Advocacy for the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), and Zach Rothstein, Executive Director for AdvaMedDx, joined the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum on Tuesday, October 24, to discuss informed options for a path forward that will benefit the entire healthcare community.
Read a summary of the event here.
Video highlights are available on our Events page.
September 19, 2023: Fall Media Panel’s discussion of “What’s Next In Healthcare: The Defining Trends to Follow”
With Congress back in session and election year issues coming into focus, health policy is dominating much of the conversation in Washington. Healthcare costs remain a source of financial pain throughout the country, and the Biden Administration has revealed its list of the first ten drugs subject to price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act. Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic are changing the way doctors care for their patients. Medical devices promise innovative new treatments, and the seemingly intractable scourge of substance abuse continues to ravage the well-being of thousands of Americans. Who will emerge as victors among the competing stakeholders in today’s healthcare debates?
Michelle Stein, Health Care Editor, Reporter, and Assistant Publisher at Inside Health Policy; Rachana Pradhan, Correspondent for Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Health News; and Shannon Firth, Washington Correspondent of MedPage Today joined the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum on Tuesday, September 19, to share their insights on what is ahead in healthcare for providers and patients.
Read a summary of the event here.
Find a transcript of the event here.
Video highlights are available on our Events page.
August 22, 2023: Reauthorizing the SUPPORT Act: The Future of the Fight Against Addiction
The massive bipartisan SUPPORT Act, originally passed in 2018 to provide addiction and recovery programs nationwide, is due to expire September 30.
There is bipartisan agreement in both the House and Senate on the need to reauthorize the bill, providing new momentum to stem the overdose crisis that now kills more than 100,000 Americans each year.
Major questions now focus on what the renewed bill will cover, what it might offer to support non-opioid pain relief and what the implications will be for public health services in both urban and rural areas.
On August 22, Megan Meacham, Director of Rural Strategic Initiatives at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and Andrew Cosgrove, Senior Director, Policy and Research at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), joined NVHPF in conversation about the reauthorized legislation and the future of the war on drugs.
Read a summary of the event here.
Video highlights are available on our Events page.
May 24, 2023: Negotiating Drug Prices: What Should CMS Do Next?
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is facing a critical deadline in its effort to implement the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, created by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). Under the Program, CMS will negotiate directly with drug manufacturers to lower the price of certain high expenditure single-source brand-name Medicare Part B and Part D drugs.
The first ten drugs selected for negotiation were announced on August 29, and the price set by CMS for these drugs will go into effect in 2026. CMS is in the process of making pivotal decisions to implement this landmark change in Medicare drug pricing. The Agency has solicited public comment on its process for the first year of the Program, including how it will collect and use data for negotiation.
On May 24, 2023, as the selection of the first ten drugs was still pending, John O’Brien, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC), Jason Spangler, Chief Executive Officer of the Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI), and and Monét Stanford, Pharm.D., Director of Policy, Association for Accessible Medicines, joined the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum on to share their insights on the decisions before CMS regarding this critical process, the impact those decisions may have, and their outlook on the next steps for CMS.
Video highlights are available on our Events page.
February 15, 2023: Healthcare Headlines to Expect in 2023
On February 15, the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum hosted three veteran Washington-based reporters in a discussion of the healthcare headlines we can expect to see in 2023.
Our panelists were:
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Julie Appleby, senior correspondent for Kaiser Health News, who reports on the implementation of healthcare law, healthcare treatments and costs, trends in health insurance, and policy affecting hospitals and other medical providers.
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Maya Goldman, who covers health policy issues as a reporter for Axios. Goldman focuses on health policy issues in Congress and the federal agencies, including Medicare payment, telehealth, and price transparency.
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John Wilkerson, Washington correspondent for STAT, who writes about the politics of healthcare. In his more than 20 years of covering healthcare payment and regulation, Wilkerson has extensively covered policies that impact prescription drug prices.
The Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum regularly convenes leaders in health policy and healthcare administration for discussions of current health policy issues. We are proud to be a forum for the exchange of ideas and to offer health policy professionals the opportunity to learn from each other and from experts in the field.