Healthcare Happy Hour

Welcome back to the podcast everyone! We hope you had a safe and fun Thanksgiving with your friends and family. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we are catching you up on several things that transpired over the break, including a new IRS notice that impacts ACA reporting requirements, the status of OSHA and CMS vaccine mandates, and an update on the Build Back Better Act reconciliation package.

The Healthcare Happy Hour and Washington Update will be taking a break next week as we get together with family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving. In light of the holiday, on this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner, John Greene and Chris Hartmann review everything that we at NAHU have been thankful for so far this year, between certain COVID-19 relief, a historic Capitol Conference, surprise-billing rules and everything in between.

The House of Representatives passed the INVEST in America Act last Friday, the $1 trillion bipartisan legislative package that is comprised of “pure” infrastructure provisions. Since the Senate already passed the package in August the bill is ready to be signed into law by President Biden, which is expected to occur next week. This bill is separate from the Build Back Better Act, Democrats’ reconciliation package that continues to undergo changes. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NAHU’s Chris Hartmann and John Greene are here to discuss the passage of the INVEST Act and provide updates on the Build Back Better bill. Additionally, Marcy Buckner is also here to discuss a very important webinar that NAHU hosted earlier this week.

Back in September, HHS released a set of proposed rules dealing with broker compensation disclosure in the individual and short-term limited duration markets, as well as surprise billing requirements for air ambulance providers. As we do with all relevant proposed regulations, NAHU submitted comments to the Administration with our questions and concerns. In addition, CMS and OSHA issued interim final rules regarding national COVID-19 vaccine requirements. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner discusses what we included in our comments and what is included in the new vaccine mandate guidance.

The White House released a new framework for Democrats’ reconciliation package this week that cuts back many of the health insurance provisions initially included in early House versions of the bill. What is still included? What has been cut? How does this framework relate to what will be included in the final version of the Build Back Better Act? On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NAHU’s vice presidents of congressional affairs Chris Hartmann and John Greene discuss all the new information on what may, or may not, be included in the reconciliation bill. In addition, they discuss recent congressional hearings that NAHU was able to submit written testimony for.

Last month, federal agencies published a proposed rule regarding requirements created by the No Surprises Act, a section of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. That proposed rule deals with broker-compensation transparency requirements for individual and short-term limited duration plans as well as information regarding surprise billing of air ambulances. This proposed rule did not deal with compensation disclosure in the group market, so what is happening there? On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner discusses how NAHU is handling the group-market disclosure requirements ahead of potential regulations and what sort of questions we were able to pose in a meeting with the Department of Labor this week.

On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we are joined by Michelle Barki, Senior Legal Counsel at Medcom Benefit Solutions, and member of NAHU’s Compliance Corner committee. As some listeners may know, Medcom is an NAHU affinity partner. We discuss what sorts of benefit solutions Medcom offers their clients, how folks can leverage NAHU’s partnership with Medcom for some tremendous resources, in addition to a conversation around a few compliance areas relevant to you.

Last week federal agencies published an interim final rule regarding requirements related to surprise billing. This much-anticipated IFR, considered “Part 2” of the administration’s surprise billing ban regulations, deals with the process to settle out-of-network payment disputes that will arise between providers and payers in addition to outlining requirements for healthcare cost estimates for uninsured, or self-paying, individuals. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner is here to discuss the IFR, how exactly this dispute resolution process works, and how this is a victory for NAHU.

NAHU allies in the House introduced H.R. 5318 last week, better known as the Commonsense Reporting Act. This bill deals with ACA employer reporting requirements under section 6055 and 6056. In addition, things are heating up on Capitol Hill as Democrats continue infighting regarding what to include in their reconciliation package. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NAHU’s Vice President of Congressional Affairs Chris Hartmann and Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Marcy Bucker are here to discuss the status of reconciliation talks, in addition to the specifics of the employer reporting bill.

Late last week HHS and the Treasury Department released a final rule on the 2022 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters, or NBPP, updating several areas and finalizing standards for issuers, marketplaces and navigators for the 2022 plan year. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner discusses what changes this final rule makes. Additionally, we will also discuss a comment letter that NAHU just submitted on electronic-filing requirements for certain IRS documents that employers need to submit.

This week HHS published a proposed rule regarding requirements created by the Consolidated Appropriations Act. This much-anticipated proposed rule deals with broker compensation transparency requirements for individual and short-term limited duration plans as well as information regarding surprise billing of air ambulances. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NAHU’s senior vice president of government affairs Marcy M. Buckner is here to discuss the proposed rule, what it means for you, and where we go from here.

As August recess comes to an end, Congress will be back to work on the two major legislative packages that NAHU has discussed for the past few months – the $1 trillion bipartisan INVEST in America Act, and Democrats’ $3.5 trillion dollar reconciliation package. On the July 30 edition of the podcast, we discussed the status of these packages prior to August recess. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NAHU’s vice presidents of congressional affairs, Chris Hartmann and John Greene, return to discuss what the timeline looks like for passage of these bills and what may be encompassed in the reconciliation package – including potentially lowering the Medicare eligibility age.

Federal agencies recently released an interim final rule, “Part One” of the highly anticipated regulation regarding the ban on surprise billing included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. This week, NAHU submitted comments to the administration with our thoughts and concerns about the rule. If you want to hear a detailed analysis of what’s included in this interim final rule, you can listen to the July 16 edition of the podcast. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we are focusing specifically on our response to the interim final rule, with Marcy M. Buckner joining us once again to review those comments.

Late last week, the Department of Labor released new guidance regarding the implementation of the Transparency in Coverage final rule and sections of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, or CAA. The guidance, a series of FAQs, provides an updated timeline for when these policies will go in to place, just as NAHU requested. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner reviews these FAQs and what they mean for you and your clients.

The coronavirus pandemic has obviously altered many aspects of our society, but one in particular has been the way in which consumers think about healthcare and receive healthcare services. With millions of healthcare consumers looking for a way to see their physician without needing to leave their home, telemedicine has become a crucial conversation. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, emergency medicine physician and chief medical officer at Summus Global, Dr. Mary Mulcare, joins us to discuss the importance of telehealth moving forward

Did you know that NAHU has a brand-new Medicare and Medicare Advantage certification course? If you are looking for a new way to complete your annual Medicare Advantage training, NAHU should be your first stop. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NAHU’s senior vice president of education Farren Baer is here to discuss the course and the value it can bring.

August recess has already begun for the House and is poised to begin this weekend for the Senate. Now is the time to get on the calendars of your representative and senators to talk with them about NAHU’s legislative priorities. What are those priorities? On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NAHU Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Marcy M. Buckner is here to discuss them.

With August recess rapidly approaching, the Senate voted to move forward Wednesday on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal with over $550 billion in new spending. Meanwhile, Democrats internally debate provisions of their own package, expected to top $3 trillion, which they plan to pass via the reconciliation process. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NAHU’s vice presidents of congressional affairs, Chris Hartmann and John Greene, discuss the details of these bills and what they’re hearing on Capitol Hill

Last week we discussed the balance-billing ban included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act that passed at the end of 2020. This week, we’re discussing another provision that was included in the CAA – a request for information regarding reporting on pharmacy benefits and prescription-drug costs. Marcy M. Buckner explains the RFI and our response to it, as well as some upcoming comment letters that NAHU will be submitting.

Federal agencies recently released “Part 1” of the highly anticipated regulation regarding the ban on surprise billing included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. The 2,000-plus-page CAA encompassed many provisions, including a ban on surprise billing referred to as the No Surprises Act. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner reviews what is included in this first round of regulatory language regarding the No Surprises Act.