Beginning this week, DeBrunner & Associates is expanding its regular updates to encompass a broader scope of federal health policy endeavors to include other matters of importance to providers.  Feel free to share this newsletter with others in your organization or to send us the email addresses of those you think might be interested and we will send it directly to them.

The following is the latest such information from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Friday, March 26.

The White House

COVID-19

Department of Health and Human Services

COVID-19

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

COVID-19

Health Policy News

  • CMS has posted the latest edition of MLN Connects, its online publication with the latest information about Medicare reimbursement policy.  The following is the table of contents of the March 25 edition, with links to the individual articles:

News

Compliance

Claims, Pricers, & Codes

MLN Matters® Articles

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

COVID-19

Food and Drug Administration

COVID-19

  • The FDA announced that “Given the sustained increase in [COVID-19] viral variants in the United States that are resistant to bamlanivimab administered alone, and the availability of other authorized monoclonal antibody therapies that are expected to retain activity to these variants, the U.S. Government, in coordination with Eli Lilly and Company, will stop the distribution of bamlanivimab alone starting today, March 24, 2021.”  Using the other monoclonal antibody therapies, the FDA reasons, will increase the likelihood of successful treatment against COVID-19 variants.  Go here to see the FDA’s announcement and explanation and for links to resources that describe the available monoclonal antibodies and their differences in greater detail.