Both the House and Senate will be in session next week. 

Government Funding Runs Out on March 14. Republican leadership is moving forward with a short-term continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government ahead of the current March 14 funding deadline. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has indicated he plans to push for a 7-month CR, extending current government funding levels through the end of the fiscal year. Notably, Democrat votes will be needed to pass the measure in the Senate, creating potential opportunities in these negotiations to advance their priorities. A funding agreement of any length could also include a telehealth extension and possibly the advanced APM bonus payments and a Medicare physician payment fix. Any add-ons would require offsets, and lawmakers remain wary of a package that includes too many “new” policies after the December 2024 package ultimately could not garner sufficient support. A4H will continue to advocate for physician pay cut mitigation and extension of the APM bonus. We will monitor the situation as it evolves rapidly over the next week.

President Trump Addresses Congress. In his first address to Congress in his second term, President Trump highlighted his administration’s actions to secure the southern border, increase domestic energy production, and reverse Biden-era priorities. While the speech lasted for almost 100 minutes, there was little mention of health care policy. At one point, President Trump mentioned concerns with childhood cancer and autism rates and touted his Make America Health Again Commission, led by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

PTAC March Meeting. The Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee’s (PTAC) March meeting focused on reducing barriers to participation in total cost of care models and supporting primary and specialty care integration. The Committee heard from experts – including several A4H members – who highlighted the importance of predictable and accurate benchmarking policies, reducing administrative burden, simplifying quality measurement, and moving away from fee-for-service payment to incentivize coordination and accountable care adoption for primary care physicians and specialists. 

West Health and A4H Roundtable on Identifying and Addressing Barriers to Accountable Care Adoption. The Accountable for Health Institute and West Health Policy Center convened a roundtable of experts to discuss the accountable care landscape, including barriers to adoption and suggested next steps to continue momentum in building an accountable health care system that achieves better outcomes, improves care experiences, increases access, and lowers costs. Participants encouraged modernizing accountable care policy to keep pace with the movement and identified implementation challenges that should be addressed to accelerate adoption. A summary of the report is available here, and the full report from the convening is available here.

Case Study: State of Franklin Healthcare Associates. After a 63-year-old woman with advanced hepatic cirrhosis and chronic liver disease visited the emergency room 35 times in 12 months, a new A4H member, State of Franklin Healthcare Associates (SOFHA), stepped in to solve the care challenges that were preventing her from receiving the liver transplant she desperately needed. Read how SOFHA applied funds generated through the Medicare Shared Savings Program to get this patient the care she needed in our “Accountable Care in Action” case study, linked here.