According to the Wall Street Journal, the Health and Human Services Department will announce on August 15 how it will distribute $54 million in grants through the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) insurance exchange "navigator" program. The announcement leaves "just 32 business days" for officials in nearly three dozen states to hire and train thousands of workers.

Representatives Jim McDermott, D-Wash and Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who serve on the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, have reintroduced a 2010 bill that would strengthen federal efforts to combat Medicare payment fraud.

Although physician groups are generally satisfied with legislation that will gradually repeal the sustainable growth rate formula, the groups expressed concern about a provision that would allow non-physicians to operate medical homes.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 51-0 to approve legislation (HR 2810) that would gradually repeal the sustainable growth rate (SGR). The bill will now head to the full House for consideration.

According to an Affordable Care Act analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the decision to delay the ACA employer coverage mandate by one year will cost the federal government about $12 billion over the 10-year period from 2014 to 2023.

According to a report from the Center for Public Integrity, the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services will be significantly restricted in its ability to monitor and address Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse within the nation's health care system in the coming years.

According to a draft rule released this month, CMS is moving up its plan by one year to shift thousands of physicians in mid-sized physician groups into an Affordable Care Act (ACA) program that ties a portion of their Medicare reimbursements to the quality of their care.

As reported last week, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee conducted a hearing on legislation that would repeal the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula.

Last week the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations approved the fiscal year 2014 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education bill by a vote of 16-14. The measure, which would provide $165.6 billion in discretionary budget authority, will now be reported to the full Senate for its consideration.  Although the fate of the bill is unclear, if passed in the Senate chamber, the bill would move to the House of Representatives, where significant funding amendments would likely be proposed.  The House Committee on Appropriations also will be developing its own Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill.

Individuals working in the Affordable Care Act's "navigator" program for the law's health insurance exchanges must be affiliated with certain community organizations according to a final rule released by CMS. The rule outlines training and certification requirements for the program's workers. In addition, the workers must undergo at least 30 hours of training to before they can be qualified as a "certified application counselor".