Policy Corner: January 28, 2022

Speaker Invites President to Deliver State of the Union

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has invited President Biden to deliver the State of the Union address Tuesday, March 1. As the president’s budget recommendations typically follow after the address, the president’s proposal for federal fiscal year (FY) 2023 spending will not be released until later in March. Although the statutory deadline for releasing a budget is the first Monday in February, the current fiscal year is being funded through a Continuing Resolution (CRs) until Feb. 18. It remains to be seen if Congress will pass appropriation bills or continue to fund federal government with CRs based on funding levels of the previous year.

Lawmakers Send Letter to CDC Director Regarding Data on Long COVID

Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.) recently sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky urging the CDC to publicly report data on Long COVID or Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC). The letter specifically states the importance of including disaggregated demographic data, including disability status, in order to inform policymaking around Long COVID and associated disparities.

Long COVID, also referred to as post-COVID conditions and Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection (PASC), is a serious illness that can affect the function of multiple organs months after a person contracts COVID-19. According to the CDC, people living with Long COVID may experience a combination of symptoms, ranging from fatigue and brain fog to muscle pain and diarrhea to difficulty breathing and heart palpitations.

BIAA Weighs in on Proposed CMS Benefit and Payment Rule

The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) joined the Coalition to Preserve Rehabilitation (CPR) in its letter to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks regarding the proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2023 (NBPP). As this is an annual rulemaking event, CPR urges CMS to establish at least a 60-day comment period to ensure that stakeholders and advocates are able to appropriately consider and respond to provisions in future proposed rules.

Meanwhile, the NBPP final rule proposes to codify new standards and methodologies to evaluate network adequacy for qualified health plans (QHPs) in the federally facilitated exchanges (FFEs). CPR believes that issuers must adhere to patient-friendly network adequacy standards that provide ample access to the full complement of rehabilitation and habilitation service and device providers, professionals, and facilities that provide both primary and specialty care. CMS proposes to codify the list of provider and facility specialty types subject to the network adequacy reviews. As is the case for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, CMS does not propose to include post-acute rehabilitation programs, such as inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and units (IRFs), comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities (CORFs), or long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) in the list of facility specialty types evaluated during these reviews. As these are critical settings of care for rehabilitation services and devices, CPR strongly urges CMS to include IRFs, CORFs, and LTCHs as part of the agency’s network adequacy review process.

Additionally, CPR emphasized that network adequacy standards should ensure that people with injuries, illnesses, disabilities, and chronic or complex conditions are not burdened by significant traveling distances in order to receive covered services under the plan and should recognize that many people with disabilities lack transportation options. The CPR organizations also noted that while telehealth services are critical, policies encouraging such expansion, do not limit patients’ access to in-person care, especially when the services needed by the patient are more effectively and efficiently provided in-person.

ACL Schedules Virtual TBI Stakeholder Day

In observance of Brain Injury Awareness Month, the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL) is hosting a virtual Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Stakeholder Day March 8, 2022, from 12 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET. Each year, TBI Stakeholder Day brings all stakeholders together to discuss important issues around TBI services, supports, and systems, and to learn from other stakeholders, brain injury survivors, family members, support networks, and state and federal representatives. Click here to register.

Sessions will be live-captioned and ASL-interpreted. If you require additional accommodations to participate or if you have any questions about the sessions, please contact tbitarc@hsri.org.

BIAA gratefully acknowledges the Centre for Neuro Skills and Avanir Pharmaceuticals for their support for legislative action. Click here to read past issues of Policy Corner.