The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is requesting nominations for the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC), which provides recommendations to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology on policies, standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria relating to the implementation of a health information technology infrastructure. GAO expects to appoint two to three new HITAC members, focusing especially on patients or consumers, health plans or purchasers, and researchers. Nominations are due by July 31, 2023.

The Milbank Memorial Fund has released a new report about the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program. The report provides an overview of the program, its workforce, clinical and financial outcomes, as well as case studies of teaching health centers across the country. The report finds that the THCGME program’s success can inform how to invest in primary care workforce training and finance graduate medical education to meet population health needs.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary projects that national health expenditures will hit $7.17 trillion by 2031. That means about $1 out of every $5 spent in the U.S. will be on health care. Read more.

Capital Link, a HRSA National Training & Technical Assistance Partner (NTTAP) has a toolkit that provides guidance in applying data analysis tools to help health centers more effectively track performance, understand key drivers, and incorporate operational insights for financial sustainability. This resource was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) so is available to you for free download and use. Download Performance Benchmarking Toolkit for Health Centers: Tracking Data to Improve Financial Performance. There is also a Debt Capacity Calculator on the Capital Link website for health centers considering capital projects.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is proposing to transition oral health from an NPM (National Performance Measure) to an SPM (State Performance Measure). HRSA believes that states are better equipped to measure and improve oral health than the federal government. This newly imposed rule may reduce the visibility of oral health, no longer presenting this issue as a national priority, which could lead to reduced funding and support. Comments on the proposed change should be received by July 5. Please submit your comments here.

CMS released a proposed rule that impacts the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and other Medicaid drug pricing, reimbursement, and data collection issues. Among the proposals, addressing spread pricing by pharmacy benefit managers and identification of 340B drugs on managed care pharmacy identification cards are of the most interest to FQHCs. NACHC will host office hours later this month to go over the proposed rule – details to come. Comments on the rule are due by July 25.