Welcome to the Capitol Connection, a quarterly update on what's happening on Capitol Hill and various state legislature sessions around healthcare policy. Your hosts are Deanne Kasim, Executive Director of Health Policy at Change Healthcare, and Angela Evatt, Senior Manager of State Policy Strategy at Change Healthcare. 

Here's what's covered in this edition:

• CMS guidance regarding telemedicine waivers during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Suspended legislative sessions in 26 states (and counting)
• State-regulated insurance companies waive cost-sharing for COVID-19 testing
• State-directed Medicaid programs to cover COVID-19 testing/treatment
• Reopening of state-run insurance exchanges, demands for federal enrollment period
• Driving capacity with state-mandated suspensions of licensure requirements and elective procedures
• Health plan deadlines for CMS interoperability final rule and information blocking final rule
• ONC fact sheets, education regarding rule components
• Contention over private right of action
• Disagreement on Washington State Privacy Act amendments derails progress
• Second update released to California's Consumer Privacy Act
• States introducing data privacy legislation
• Medicaid work requirements and Medicaid expansion reform
• Oklahoma push to convert a portion of Medicaid into a block grant
• Details of Colorado’s public health option bill and hospital/insurer opposition
• California's new Healthcare Affordability Office charged with lowering costs
• The COVID-19 pandemic’s potential impact on our healthcare system and policy development

Episode Resources

1. Deanne Kasim's bio
2. Angela Evatt's bio
3. Everything You Dare to Ask About Healthcare Interoperability
4. Price Transparency is Coming for Payers, Providers, and Pharma. Are You Ready?
5. The New PAMA Math
6. Interoperability Solutions for Healthcare
7. Advancing the Use of APIs in Healthcare
8. COVID-19 Updates and Resources
9. COVID-19 Updates Newsletter

Show Resources

• SUBSCRIBE to the podcast using any podcatcher or RSS reader
• Get the iOS app
• Get the Android app
• Suggest or become a guest
• Contact Change Healthcare