Previous Advocacy Updates

On March 24, House leaders, with encouragement from President Trump, pulled the American Health Care Act from the floor before a vote could occur.

President Donald Trump's 2018 budget recommendation to Congress called for increasing some funding for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, raising Food and Drug Administration medical product user fees to over $2 billion in 2018, from $1 billion in 2017, and cut funding to the National Institutes of Health by $5.8 billion, or nearly 20%.

The House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees approved legislation to repeal and replace portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The House Energy and Commerce and the Ways and Means committees have scheduled to markup and approve new legislation that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Minnesota has joined a list of states that are taking action to address out-of-network billing by insurers, an issue on which the CAP has worked tirelessly.

Congressman Tom Price, MD (R-GA) was confirmed as the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) by the Senate on February 10, 2017.

Pathologists must take action in 2017 in order to stop their Medicare payments from being cut in 2019 under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) program.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Senate Finance Committee heard testimony from Rep. Tom Price, MD (R-GA) on January 18 and 25 respectfully on his nomination to become the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The newly inaugurated President Donald Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office directing members of his administration to take steps that will facilitate the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The House took a key step toward repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), passing a fiscal 2017 budget resolution on Friday, January 13. The House vote of 227–198 followed Senate passage on Thursday, January 12, by a 51–48 vote.

Republicans have initiated efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Coalition Opposes Balance Billing Proposal in Idaho, DEA Reverses Registration Renewal Process, Applicable Laboratories Must Report PAMA Data

Beginning on January 1, 2017, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) will require certain laboratories to submit private payor rates for clinical laboratory tests. The CAP developed pathology specific PAMA resources, including an informative infographic and podcast , to help laboratories understand regulatory requirements and upcoming deadlines.

Victory in VA provision to expand Scope of Practice despite concerns with final regulation; CAP advocates for changes to 2017 MACRA Requirements.

With the transfer of power now underway in Washington, the AMA is working with physician organizations like the CAP to tackle issues from national health care reform to Medicare reimbursement.

The House passed the 21st Century Cures Act and President-elect Trump nominates Rep. Tom Price, MD, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

The FDA will not finalize its guidance document providing oversight of laboratory-developed tests at this time, the agency announced on November 18.

The first step in UnitedHealthcare's implementation of its laboratory benefit management program in Texas begins in January 2017 with voluntary participation before mandatory compliance is enforced in March.

The CMS will launch the system that applicable laboratories will use to submit private payer data for clinical laboratory tests to the Medicare program on November 14.

Several pathology services targeted as misvalued by the Medicare program maintained their values in the 2017 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule released by the CMS on November 2.