Congress Addresses Nurse Staffing Pricing, Florida Expands Telehealth
Congress sent a letter to the White House to address price gouging within the nurse staffing industry, Florida legislatures vote to include audio-only calls in telehealth law.
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By - Last week, a bipartisan group of Congress members issued a letter to the White House urging an investigation into price gouging occurring among nurse staffing agencies. Congress also sent another letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) imploring it to maintain the benefits offered by Medicare Advantage Plans.
On the state level, Florida’s Senate has changed its definition of telehealth to include audio-only calls. This step is intended to make telehealth and other services more accessible across the state.
Meanwhile, the Food & Drug Administration has expanded the authorization of Gilead’s coronavirus treatment, remdesivir. And, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs has selected cyber security expert, Palo Alto, to defend its new electronic health record system.
Florida Passes Audio-Only Telehealth Bill
The Florida Senate has redefined telehealth in its state by including audio-only calls in its legal classification of the service. This change will expand access to care for a host of patients and improve processes like remote patient monitoring. Florida’s telehealth law will continue to exclude emails and other written communications from being considered telehealth. READ MORE.
VA Selects Palo Alto to Run Cybersecurity
Cyber security vendor Palo Alto will be providing services for the VA’s EHR modernization program. The EHR network that the VA hopes to create will service 9 million patients and span over the entire country. Palo Alto president, BJ Jenkins, commented on the relationship between the VA and his company: "We are proud to deliver the cybersecurity tools to support this critical mission and continue building on our longstanding partnership with the VA." READ MORE.
FDA Approves Gilead’s Remdesivir
The FDA has expanded the use case for Gilead’s coronavirus treatment, remdesivir. New authorizations from the FDA now allow for non-hospital use of the drug and its use in children under the age of 12. These recommendations come on the heels of a successful clinical trial that showed an 87 percent reduction in hospitalization or death for patients using remdesivir compared to placebo. READ MORE.
White House Urged to Investigate Nurse Staffing Price Gouging
US Congress members are urging the Biden Administration to address a price-gouging issue that is cropping up with nurse staffing companies. Reliance on temporary workers from these staffing agencies has caused provider’ costs to rise precipitously during the coronavirus pandemic. Congress members are now seeking to quell this rise in costs by going after guilty companies with consumer protection lawsuits. READ MORE.
Reps Urge CMS to Maintain Medicare Advantage Benefits
In a letter to CMS, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is championing the effort to maintain Medicare Advantage plans and their benefits. Over three-quarters of the House of Representatives have signed onto the letter that highlights the importance of Medicare Advantage for its 27 million-plus members.
“Medicare Advantage has strong bipartisan support because it is a prime example of the government and free-market working together to deliver lower costs, more choices, and better outcomes for millions of Americans,” Matt Eyles, CEO of AHIP, said in a statement. READ MORE.
