This week (March 16-20)

Both the House and Senate will be in session this week, with several health-related hearings on the docket.

House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing on "Protecting Patients and Safeguarding Taxpayer Dollars: The Role of CMS in Combatting Medicare and Medicaid Fraud."

• Date: Tuesday, March 17 at 2pm ET
• More information available here.

House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing on "Lowering Health Care Costs for All Americans: An Examination of the U.S. Provider Landscape."

• Date: Wednesday, March 18 at 10:15 AM ET
• More information available here.

House Committee on Education and Workforce will hold a hearing on "Strengthening Federal Workers' Compensation Programs: Ensuring Integrity, Efficiency, and Access"

• Date: Wednesday, March 18 at 10:15 AM ET
• More information available here.

House Select Committee on China will hold a hearing on "From the Science Lab to the Medicine Cabinet: How China is Cornering the Market on Our Medicines."

• Date: Wednesday, March 18 at 10:00AM ET
• More information available here.

Last week (March 9-13)

Congressional Highlights

Reconciliation 2.0.? There was discussion of a potential follow-on bill to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at the House Republican members' policy retreat at President Trump's Doral resort in Florida, where President Trump addressed members Monday (March 9). Given President Trump's comments about already enacting the party's list of accomplishments in last year's reconciliation bill and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith's (R-MO) lingering doubts that the narrowly divided House can pass another party-line bill, the effort was described as a heavy lift but still of interest to some GOP leaders and some members, including the Budget Committee chairmen in the House and Senate. Punchbowl News reported House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-TX) as saying another reconciliation bill is uncertain but necessary because, heading into the midterm elections, "Our base needs to be extra motivated this time." He said the Budget Committee may hold a markup of a budget resolution in the next 30 days but that reconciliation instructions may not be part of the initial product and won't be added "unless consent is there from the conference."

Administrative Highlights

CMS announces manufacturer participation in third cycle of Medicare drug price negotiation. On Friday (March 13) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the drug companies whose Part B and/or Part D drugs were selected for the third cycle of negotiations in the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program have chosen to participate in the program.

CMS issues updates on upcoming hospital deadlines. On Thursday (March 12), CMS sent reminders that hospitals have until March 31 to submit data for the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) drug cost acquisition survey. The agency also reminded hospitals that enforcement of new and updated Hospital Price Transparency (HPT) requirements, finalized in the CY 2026 OPPS final rule, begins April 1. Those new requirements include:

• Requiring hospitals to make public actual dollar amounts in their machine-readable file (MRF);
• Modifying the MRF affirmation statement;
• Requiring hospitals to encode their organizational, or Type 2, National Provider Identifier(s) (NPIs) in the MRFs; and
• Reducing civil monetary penalties by 35% when a hospital waives its right to an administrative law judge hearing.

CMS issues guidance on organ transplants. On Wednesday (March 11), CMS issued new guidance that aims to clarify responsibilities of Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) and donor hospitals. The Quality, Safety, & Oversight (QSO) memo and State Operations Manual (SOM) appendix are intended to reinforce that hospitals must provide complete, life-saving medical treatment without regard to potential organ donation, patients and families cannot be coerced into donation decisions, and OPOs cannot influence decisions related to life support withdrawal or death declarations, among other things. CMS said it anticipates issuing the OPO Conditions for Coverage Final Rule near the end of 2026. The OPO Conditions for Coverage proposed rule is open for comment through March 30.

FDA unveils new adverse event reporting system. On Wednesday (March 11), the FDA launched a new platform for analyzing adverse event reports. The platform, called FDA Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS), will serve as a single unified system for adverse event reports submitted to the FDA for drugs, biologics, vaccines, cosmetics, and animal food. In the months ahead, all remaining product centers will begin processing adverse event reports in AEMS. FDA said it plans to migrate historical adverse event data to AEMS, decommission certain legacy systems, and roll out enhanced application program interfaces (APIs) and data analytics tools.

USTR announced new Section 301 investigations. On Wednesday (March 11), the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced new investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that focus on 16 economies, including pharmaceuticals and medical apparatuses. This announcement follows the recent Supreme Court ruling that tariffs enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were unlawful. USTR will open a public comment period for written comments on March 17.

FDA issues new draft guidance to streamline biosimilar development. On Monday (March 9), the FDA issued new draft guidance that recommends steps to streamline biosimilar development. FDA said its proposals to streamline clinical pharmacokinetic (PK) testing when scientifically justified could save biosimilar developers up to 50% of their PK study costs, or approximately $20 million. The guidance, which is open for public comment through May 11, aims to build on draft guidance issued in October 2025 to reduce certain comparative efficacy studies.

CMS publishes BALANCE model FAQ. On Monday (March 9), the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) published an FAQ document on the Better Approaches to Lifestyle and Nutrition for Comprehensive Health (BALANCE) Model. The FAQ suggests CMS will implement a new GLP-1 payment demonstration beginning July 2026 that will serve as a short-term bridge to the BALANCE Model, which is scheduled to begin in 2027. CMS is currently accepting requests for applications for states and Part D plans.

HHS holds inaugural National Conference on Women's Health. This week, HHS hosted a National Conference on Women's Health during which participants heard from experts and panels on longevity, fertility, menopause, hormone therapy, mental health, cancer, and Lyme disease.

Hearings, Markups, and Other Committee Activity

Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing on "Foreign Dependence: How China Captured America's Drug Supply." On Wednesday (March 11), the Committee held a hearing that examined the national security and public health risks posed by the US' dependence on China for pharmaceutical ingredients. During the hearing, Republicans highlighted FDA oversight failures and supply chain vulnerabilities, highlighting the need to onshore drug manufacturing. Democrats, meanwhile, focused on strengthening FDA authority, improving supply chain transparency, and incentivizing quality-based procurement.

• More information available here.

Reports, Studies, and Journals

• MACPAC: March 2026 Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP. The annual report to Congress offers recommendations to help promote the home- and community-based services (HCBS) workforce, behavioral health in Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicaid for justice-involved youth, and Medicaid for children in foster care.
• MedPAC: March 2026 Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy. The annual report to Congress offers recommendations for updating provider payment rates in fee-for-service Medicare, provides an overview of trends and key issues in post-acute care, Medicare Advantage program, the Part D prescription drug program, and ambulatory surgical centers, as well as congressionally mandated reports on recent changes to the home health prospective payment system and the performance of dual-eligible special-needs plans (D-SNPs).