Continuing Resolution Signed into Law; Includes Telehealth Extension Measure. By a vote of 54-46, the U.S. Senate passed a continuing resolution to fund the government until September 30. Earlier, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the resolution by a vote of 217-213. The President signed the resolution into law. The legislation contains several health provisions, including extending key telehealth waivers, an extension of funding for quality measure endorsement, input, and selection, and other measures.

Senate Committee Holds Hearing on CMS Administrator Nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz. The Senate Finance Committee held a confirmation hearing on Dr. Mehmet Oz's nomination for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In his testimony, Dr. Oz stated that, if confirmed, he would focus the agency on increased use of technology, addressing program waste and abuse, and incentivizing clinicians to provide improved care. It is expected that the Finance Committee will soon set a date to vote on advancing the nomination for a vote by the full Senate.

Update on HELP Votes, Health Care Nominations. The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya’s nomination to be director of the National Institutes of Health in a 12-11 vote and backed Dr. Martin Makary’s bid to be FDA commissioner in a 14-9 vote. Both nominees will next be considered by a full Senate vote. In addition, the Administration withdrew the nomination of former Republican congressman Dr. Dave Weldon for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CMS Announces it will End Several Payment Models. CMS announced that it will end four payment models early, terminating each by the end of 2025. The models are Primary Care First, End-Stage Renal Disease Treatment Choices, Making Care Primary and Maryland Total Cost of Care. CMS also is considering reductions to the Integrated Care for Kids model. Also, the CMS Innovation Center will no longer implement the Medicare $2 Drug List or Accelerating Clinical Evidence models.

Bipartisan Patient ID Match It Act Reintroduced. The bipartisan MATCH IT Act of 2025 has been reintroduced in the House of Representatives. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL) co-sponsored the legislation, as they have in previous congresses. This year there is an additional co-sponsor – Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA). The bill would establish an industry standard definition for the term “patient match rate” — to allow measurement of patient match rates across the health care system — and would improve standardization of patients’ demographic elements entered into certified health IT products to ensure patients are accurately matched with the correct medical record. Read Rep. Kelly’s press statement here.

CMS to Host EPCS Webinar March 27. CMS will host a webinar on it Electronic Prescribing for Controlled Substances (EPCS) Program on Thursday, March 27, 4–5 p.m. (ET) with program reviews and updates. The webinar will include: (i) An overview of the CMS EPCS Program, including details on how to check a compliance status and submit a waiver application on the CMS EPCS Prescriber Portal; (ii) A review of the compliance requirement for measurement years 2024 and 2025; (iii) Details on the extension of the compliance deadline for long-term care (LTC) facility prescriptions from 2025 to 2028, as finalized in the Calendar Year 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule; (iv) FAQs from the September 2024 webinar; and (v) A Q&A session after the main presentation. Go here to register for the program.

CMS Reminder: 2024 QPP Data Submission is Open. CMS has opened data submission for the 2024 performance year of the Quality Payment Program (QPP). Data can be submitted and updated until March 31, 2025. To submit data, QPP participants must: (i) Go to the Quality Payment Program sign in page; (ii) Sign in using your QPP access credentials; and (iii) Submit your data for the 2024 performance year or review the data reported on your behalf by a third party. (You can’t correct errors with your data after the submission period, so it’s important to make sure the data submitted on your behalf is accurate.)  Submission resources are available now on the QPP Resource Library.

House Republicans Launch Data Privacy Working Group, Release RFI. The U.S House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Vice Chairman John Joyce (R-PA) issued an RFI to solicit  input for a federal data privacy and security framework. Comments are due Apr. 7. The RFI asks stakeholders to comment on various areas including roles and responsibilities in the digital economy, personal information and consumer rights, existing privacy frameworks, data security, artificial intelligence, and accountability and enforcement. The goal is to address the challenges posed by technological advancements and the complex web of state and federal laws, ensuring clear digital protections for Americans. Responses to the RFI will be used by the newly-formed data privacy working group, comprised of the nine Republicans on the Committee.