Last Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized a rule that will truncate the timeline for prior authorization processes to 72 hours for people who receive health coverage from insurers participating in Medicare Advantage, Medicaid managed care, or the Affordable Care Act exchange.
The CMS...
Senator Krysten Sinema announced that she will co-sponsor the Rural Health Clinic Burden Reduction Act, a bipartisan bill that would update the original Rural Health Clinic Statute.
The bill, originally proposed in May by Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.),...
On Monday August 21, 2023, National Fentanyl Awareness Day, Arizona's Governor Katie Hobbs and Senator Kyrsten Sinema made statements acknowledging the national opioid crisis and highlighting state and federal initiatives to curb overdose and deaths.
As Sen. Sinema notes in her press release, in Arizona more than five people die each...National News
Over the weekend, Senate Democrats came together to pass the massive Inflation Reduction Act, which includes a proposal to give Medicare the power to negotiate certain drug prices, as well as a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies to insurers in the form of tax credits that were initially passed as part of the...Arizona News
This week in Medicare Advantage news, prior authorization reform garners the support of the Better Medicare Alliance, Puerto Rico offers insight into the future of the MA program, a CMS rule on third-party marketing goes into effect and we share some acquisition news.
Last week, the Better Medicare Alliance, the largest lobby for...
The positivity rate and number of new COVID-19 cases in Arizona is finally trending downward following the surge related to the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. Intensive care unit admissions and deaths have not yet crested and are expected to lag by about two weeks.
Dr. Richard Carmona, former U.S. Surgeon General and advisor to...
Valley fever, a disease of the lungs caused by the inhalation of the fungus Coccidioides, is a uniquely Arizona problem. On average, the state accounts for two-thirds of the 20,000 annual infections int he United States. Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly proposed a new bill in the U.S. Senate that would allocate $500 million for...National News
Prescription drug price negotiations have been a major policy proposal for Congressional Democrats looking to improve the outcome of negotiations surrounding President Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda in the form of the Reconciliation Bill. Initially, the president and Democratic leadership aimed to expand the ability for the...Arizona News
President Joe Biden's spending package, including a massive infrastructure bill and budget reconciliation bill that initially would have cost $3.5 trillion, is being whittled down to $1.9 or even $1.75 trillion total, and healthcare programs are on the chopping block.
The president informed House progressives on Tuesday that...National News
A bipartisan group of senators, including Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure last Friday, warning against any potential cuts to the Medicare Advantage (MA) program. The letter comes as Democrats look for places to...National News
This week, Congressional Democrats are sparring amongst themselves to bring President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill to a vote and the most public figure against the package as it stands now is Arizona's own Senator Kyrsten Sinema. What she wants is unclear, but what's in the balance includes closing a Medicaid loop hole and expansion...
