HHS and CMS ran call-for-suggestions operations last spring, how can CMS, or HHS as a whole, be revised, reformed, and more effective.
Now, HHS forms a Federal Healthcare Advisory Committee to guide policy redesign for US healthcare.
HHS press release here:
Early coverage, from Fierce Healthcare here:
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/regulatory/hhs-form-committee-offers-guidance-medicare-medicaid
Here's a brief quote from Fierce Healthcare:
- The HHS announced Thursday that the Healthcare Advisory Committee will offer recommendations to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz, M.D., seeking to "improve how care is financed and delivered" across Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and the Affordable Care Act's exchanges.
- The CMS is currently accepting nominations for committee members and is looking for experts in chronic disease management, financing in federal health programs and delivery system reform. Individuals can either be nominated by an organization or submit a nomination for themselves.
- "This is a moment for action," Oz said in an announcement.
The article closes by noting:
- CMS said in the announcement that nominations will be accepted for 30 days after the call goes live on the Federal Register, a date set for Aug. 22, with the full list of committee members to be published later this year.
- "Every American high-quality, affordable care—without red tape, corporate greed, or excessive costs," said RFK Jr. "This new advisory committee will unite the best minds in healthcare to help us deliver real results, hold the system accountable, and drive forward our mission to Make America Healthy Again."
The actual Federal Register announcement, just two pages but bulleting a few goals, is here:
Submissions by September 22.
Writing, at 90 Fed Reg 41089-90:
The Committee is tasked with
advising the Secretary of HHS and the
Administrator of CMS on the following
issues as they relate to strategies for
improving the operations and outcomes
of federally administered healthcare
insurance and payment programs:
• Developing a set of actionable
policy initiatives that can promote
chronic disease prevention and
management, as consistent with the
Make America Healthy Again policy
agenda;
• Identifying opportunities to move
towards a regulatory framework of
accountability for safety and outcomes
that reduce unnecessary red tape and
allow providers to focus on improving
patient health outcomes not filling out
paperwork;
• Sharing actionable levers to
advance a real-time data system,
enabling a new standard of excellence
in care, rapid claims processing, rapid
quality measurement and rewards;
• Identifying structural opportunities
to improve quality for the most
vulnerable in the Medicaid program
(outside of more funding for the current
system); and
• Securing the sustainability of the
Medicare Advantage program,
specifically identifying opportunities to
modernize risk adjustment and quality
measures that assess and improve health
outcomes.
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Not directly related to the above panel of experts, I noticed the headline CMS gave to the July annual proposed outpatient policy rule, a document of usually-numbing-detail and trivia.
