Weekend Update

Both Houses of Congress will be in session this coming week. (honest!) A House appropriations subcommittee will consider OPM’s FY 2017 budget at a hearing tomorrow afternoon at 3 pm.

The Hill reports that early next month the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee will consider a bill to speed up approval of generic drugs at the Food and Drug Administation. A slow FDA approval has been identified as a principal cause of pricing spikes in generic drugs.

Modern Healthcare reports on AHIP’s recent healthcare policy conference. The FEHBlog got a kick out of this line from the article — “The ACA has encouraged the healthcare system to work more together to
reduce costs and improve clinical outcomes, but it has rarely led to
consensus on policies.” The next AHIP conference is the FEHBP carrier conference on March 31 and April 1 in beautiful Arlington VA. The FEHBlog will be there.