OKPCA Takes DC
OKPCA leaders traveled to Washington, D.C. last week to take part in the State Chamber Fly-In. Pictured below, attendees met with members of Oklahoma's congressional delegation and business leaders from across the state.
Legislators Join Policy Panel at OKPCA Conference
Last week, OKPCA conference attendees heard from a slate of panelists on what's ahead for the Oklahoma Legislature. Sen John Haste, Sen. Carri Hicks, Rep. Marcus McEntire, and Rep. Cyndi Munson spoke on their successes during the First Session of Oklahoma's 58th Legislature and their predictions for the upcoming Second Session and special session. Rep. McEntire, Chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget (A&B) Subcommittee on Health and Human Services (HHS), predicted the passage and approval of a bill authorizing managed care in some form or another, and the group discussed the ongoing assessment and appropriation process for federal pandemic relief funding.
Toolkit on Federal Vaccine Mandates
Colleen Meiman, National Policy Advisor for State & Regional Associations of Community Health Centers, has released an updated toolkit for health centers that consolidates the information and resources available to date around the impending Federal vaccine mandate for health care employers & workers. The toolkit will be updated as additional information becomes available. It contains:
- A set of FAQs. For many of these questions, there are no answers yet. (These are being shared with federal administrators to be addressed in the interim final rule.)
- Links to resources to address vaccine hesitancy specifically among health care workers.
- Information around medical exemptions, including how health centers can respond to patient requests.
- Sample documents from a health center that has already announced a vaccine requirement.
HRSA Rescinds 340B Rule on EpiPens and Insulin
The Health Resources and Services Administration has formally rescinded a proposed
rule targeting community health centers participating in the 340B Drug Pricing Program. The
regulation, which President Donald Trump's administration proposed last year, would have required health centers to create new practices to determine what patients were eligible to receive insulin or Epi-Pens at reduced prices. If the policy were to take effect, it would have "resulted in reduced resources available to support critical services to health center patients," HRSA wrote. HRSA is pulling the regulation because of the "excessive administrative costs and burdens that implementation would have imposed on health centers," the agency wrote in a notice published in the
Federal Register.
In other 340B news, HRSA notified legal counsel at the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) this week that a 340B Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) panel has been assigned to NACHC’s petition representing over 225 CHCs against Sanofi and AstraZeneca. Currently, Eli Lilly is the only manufacturer with a preliminary injunction against the ADR process and does not have to comply until litigation is resolved. NACHC's
lawsuit regarding the ADR Rule and its enforcement remains active until the Board reviews NACHC's filed ADR Petition.