What’s happening in Congress?
by Artemis Policy Group, Hemophilia Alliance Advocacy Consultants

Congress returned to Washington after Labor Day with a jam-packed schedule for fall. Top of mind for everyone is the September 30^th deadline to fund the federal government by passing all 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year (FY) 2024. If lawmakers do not act in time, Congress could pass what is known as a continuing resolution (CR), which would fund the government at current FY 2023 levels until next year’s funding bills are passed, or we could see a government shutdown.

For the bleeding disorders community, the appropriations bills include funding for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) HTC Grant program, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s HTC and Hemophilia Education grant programs, as well as for the National Institutes of Health and biomedical research funding.

In addition to the funding bills, the House is moving forward on a package of bills introduced as HR 5378 which includes the reauthorization of a number of federal programs also set to expire on September 30^th, including community health center funding and the National Health Service Corps, as well as many of the bills related to the practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and Medicare and Medicaid transparency. While some provisions of the bill have bi-partisan support others do not, so it is unclear if the bill will move in its current form. A planned vote on the package was tabled, so the path forward and timing are up in the air as of this writing.

While 340B reform ideas continue to be floated to Congress, we are yet to see any bills introduced. We are watching the group of Senators who sought input on their Request for Information on contract pharmacy issues, since they may start working on a bill. We continue to monitor the situation to make sure that any proposed policies don’t harm HTCs. The Alliance Advocacy Committee is also working to evaluate various policy options that could address HTC challenges. More to come on those!