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Debbie Curtis and Rodney Whitlock preview the House Democrats focus this week as party leaders continue to negotiate the President's scaled-back economic agenda while trying to maintain support within their party on the shift in priorities that will be included.

CMS will soon release the 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System/Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System (OPPS/ASC) Final Rules. These rules will have a significant impact on Medicare fee-for-service spending on physician, hospital outpatient and ASC services, and on quality reporting in the calendar year (CY) 2022. Sheila Madhani and Deb Godes discuss what to watch for in the final rule that is expected in early next month.

Both the House and Senate are back in session this week with Democrats trying to find the momentum to pass the President's economic agenda. Debbie Curtis and Rodney Whitlock explore the challenges Democratic leadership face as they negotiations with key party members on their priorities. While some positions are known, others are more guarded.

Federal agencies announced Sept. 30 the latest interim final rules implementing the No Surprise Act. At issue is the part of the regulation that lays out the independent dispute resolution process used when there is a disagreement between providers and payers over the fair price for out-of-network services. Eric Zimmerman, Kristen O'Brien, and Katie Waldo breakdown the latest IFR and important issues in the dispute resolution process.

The House is on recess this week as House Democrats are busy working on a compromise to bring the bipartisan infrastructure package to a floor vote and address healthcare priorities through reconciliation in the Senate. Debbie Curtis and Rodney Whitlock return to examine the signals observed during the negotiation process.

This week, Congress passed and President Biden signed a continuing resolution to fund the government through December 3rd. At the time of this recording on Friday morning, October 1st, the House has not voted on the infrastructure bill as Democrats work on an agreement addressing the larger economic agenda items in the President's domestic agenda. Debbie and Rodney join us today to investigate the key health priorities and goals Democrats aim to achieve in negotiating their spending bill and reconciliation process.

Debbie Curtis and Rodney Whitlock outline the "hour by hour" timeline ahead in the House as Democrats prepare for a showdown on their economic agenda, with a planned vote (Thursday) on the bipartisan infrastructure package.

This week we welcome Mary Beth Bresch White and Amy Kelbick to the McDermottPlus team. They both will be serving as Health Policy Directors. Amy and Mary Beth share their backgrounds and experience in healthcare leadership, legislation and regulation.

The success or failure of President Biden's economic agenda rests largely on Speaker Pelosi's ability to navigate the legislation through the House this week as Congress officially returns to work. Debbie Curtis and Rodney Whitlock consider the pending debt limit hurdle that could disrupt the Democrats voting timeline.

This week, the challenge of reaching common ground was on full display in the Energy & Commerce Committee where the Committee was unable to pass their drug pricing title when three Democrats joined all the Republicans in opposition. As the House committee markup process ends, Debbie Curtis and Rodney Whitlock share their thoughts on what it means moving forward and on what "moving forward" means.