OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Tavenner will be under the microscope

Could Marilyn Tavenner actually get confirmed as administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services? It would be the first time in a long time, but it doesn’t seem out of the question.

Republican lawmakers have held their fire so far, saying only that they plan to take a careful look at Tavenner when the Senate takes up her nomination. Her background in industry and government means she’s less likely to encounter the same kind of firestorm that Don Berwick, her predecessor, faced over his academic work.

{mosads}Healthcare stakeholders are beginning to line up behind Tavenner. The American Medical Association and the Federation of American Hospitals both backed her nomination Monday, which could help ease her path through the Senate.

Healthwatch’s Sam Baker has more on Tavenner’s chances.

Supported: Don Berwick received kind words from an unexpected source: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who used the press conference in which he announced his retirement to unload on Republicans who sealed Berwick’s fate by refusing to confirm him as CMS administrator. Frank called Berwick’s forced resignation, effective Dec. 2, “one of the great political muggings of our time” caused by “right-wing obstructionism.”

“We’ve lost a great man and a very able guy who’s been treated very unfairly,” Frank said.

Newt Gingrich has also praised Berwick — and some of his ideas — in the past, David Catron writes in the American Spectator. That’s bad news for Newt.

Berwick’s inability to see through deep changes to the nation’s healthcare system is bad news for the rest of us, former Ted Kennedy health staffer John McDonough writes at the Boston Globe.

Rejected: The Department of Health and Human Services rejected health law waiver requests from Indiana and Louisiana. For those keeping score, that’s four rejections, seven adjustments granted and six under review.

Healthwatch’s Julian Pecquet has more.

Targeted: Mitt Romney’s healthcare record is front and center in the latest ad from the Democratic National Committee. Read more here.

Speed it up: Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) leads a letter urging an “expeditious” Federal Trade Commission review of the proposed merger between Pharmacy Benefit Managers Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions. Reps. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) signed on.

“Experts have indicated that the combined company has the potential to foster greater competition among businesses and help to create new business models that will drive down the costs of health care, while enhancing access to critical drug therapies,” the letter reads. “Specifically, experts indicate that the combined Express Scripts and Medco could be better equipped to deliver value for patients nationwide by lowering prescription drug prices.”

Cart, meet horse: Vermonters adopted a single-payer healthcare system this spring. On Tuesday, they start debating how to pay for it.

Officials with Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration are hosting the first of several hearings on healthcare reform financing, reports the Burlington Free Press. The law gives the executive branch until January 2013 to come up with a financing plan.

Tuesday’s agenda

Lawmakers are still regrouping following the deficit-cutting supercommittee’s inglorious demise, making for a sparse schedule Tuesday and throughout the rest of the week on Capitol Hill. But efforts to gain influence never abate.

In the morning, three dozen child health and advocacy groups join forces to brief House and Senate staffers about the millions of children, pregnant women and families who rely on Medicaid — and urge their bosses to reject deep cuts to the program. Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families will release a new state-by-state report during the briefing.

The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest hosts a briefing on the efforts to reauthorize prescription drug user fees, which expire next year. Speakers include former officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Government Accountability Office and the office of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).

And HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius makes another healthcare reform announcement.

State by State

Supporters of the healthcare law are concerned about the lack of an implementation effort in Ohio.

California is trying to help its residents plan for their long-term care needs.

Hundreds of protesters gathered at the first day of a special session in Washington state to protest Medicaid cuts.

Reg watch

The Department of Health and Human Services put states on notice that the federal agency will soon be offering welfare agencies opportunities to strengthen their monitoring of psychotropic medications prescribed to children in foster care. This comes after a recent report found that foster children enrolled in Medicaid were prescribed antipsychotic medications at almost nine times the rate of other children in the program.

Lobbyist registrations

B&D Consulting / Transformed (primary care consultants)

Bates Capitol Group / RAMM Technologies (manufacturer of a pill container)

Reading list

Bundling medical care, it turns out, is much more complicated than some healthcare reform champions would have us believe, John Goodman writes on the National Center for Policy Analysis blog.

{mossecondads}The president of NARAL Pro-Choice America responds to E.J. Dionne Jr.’s column on “Obama’s Catholic challenge.”

Coming to a DMV near you: HIV testing, Medicaid enrollment and more. The Associated Press reports.

What you might have missed on Healthwatch

Supreme Court hearing on Obama healthcare law sets up lobbying storm

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Julian Pecquet: jpecquet@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com / 202-628-8527

Sam Baker: sbaker@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com / 202-628-8351

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