Democratic lawmakers will call for swift passage of the child-nutrition reauthorization legislation in a conference call later this afternoon.

The House is expected to vote on the bill this week, and the Senate already unanimously approved a $4.5 billion version of the bill in August.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), James McGovern (D-Mass.) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) will speak in support of the legislation.

The Senate bill, championed by Lincoln, expands eligibility for school meal programs; establishes nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools; and provides a 6-cent increase for each school lunch to help cafeterias serve healthier meals. The House has been considering a $8 billion version of the bill sponsored by Miller, chairman of the Education and Labor Committee.

Rep. Eric Cantor said Monday that popular parts of the health law will be addressed in the GOP's alternative plan.

Two weeks after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched an innovation center to improve care and cut costs, the agency announced new roles for key staffers last night, according to an internal memo obtained by The Hill.

Julie Boughn, who had been serving as the chief information officer and director of the Office of Information Services (OIS), will join the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation as the acting deputy director, serving under acting director Richard Gilfillan.

Tony Trenkle, who had been the director of the Office of E-Health Standards and Services (OESS), becomes acting director of OIS. Karen Trudel, who was the OESS deputy director, becomes the office’s acting director.

The innovation center, which was created by healthcare reform, was launched Nov. 16. At the time, CMS Administrator Donald Berwick said the center will address the fragmentation of the health care system.

The Senate on Monday night defeated two amendments designed to ease the tax-filing requirements for small businesses.

Senators voted 61-35 — six votes short of the necessary 67 — to reject an amendment by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) that would strip a provision from the new healthcare law that requires businesses to report supply purchases of $600 or more with a single vendor. Likewise, the chamber voted 44-53 to defeat Sen. Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) amendment, which would accomplish the same provision but is unpaid-for. That amendment also required 67 votes.

At issue is a section of the new healthcare law that requires businesses, charities and state and local governments to file 1099 reports for all transactions above $600 per year. The votes also represented a noteworthy showdown between Johanns and Baucus, who presented a similar idea but did not fund it through offset spending cuts.

Johanns said his approach was wiser since it was funded through unspent federal monies, directing the federal Office of Management and Budget to cut $39 billion in funds that would have been generated by the 1099 mandate.

But Baucus noted that 67 votes were needed for either approach, calling such a threshold “pretty close to impossible” with the 58-42 breakdown of the Democratically controlled Senate during the current lame-duck session. Much of the argument came down to the decision-making power that would be invested in the executive branch to determine any spending cuts.

Johanns indirectly ridiculed Democrats for shying away from supporting President Obama, but Democrats said they wanted to preserve congressional power. They noted that the Johanns amendment would force cuts to be determined solely by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

The Johanns amendment "would give the unelected director of OMB unprecedented authority to slash spending, all on his own," and it "would thus abdicate Congress’s responsibility over the budget,” Baucus said.

The votes came after a 69-26 vote to end debate on an overall food safety bill. The successful vote was widely expected and suggests an equally successful final vote for the food safety bill on Tuesday.

Welcome to The Hill's early evening roundup of the day's health policy news and advance look at tomorrow's schedule.

We'll no longer be posting our Roundup in the morning, but please check our Healthwatch blog in the a.m. for overnight breaking news.

Monday's health news

Senate fails again to strike 1099 healthcare reform provision: The Senate Monday evening failed for the second time to repeal a tax reporting requirement of the healthcare reform law that both parties agree should be scrapped. Monday's failed votes were on two amendments to food-safety legislation.

The 1099 provision requires businesses to file tax forms for business purchases of more than $600 a year. The Senate considered two amendments to repeal the provision — the first, from Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), would have offset the cost with unspent and unobligated federal dollars, to be identified by the Office of Management and Budget. It failed 61 to 35 because a two-thirds majority was needed for passage. 

The second amendment, from Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), was not paid for and would have added $19 billion to the deficit. It failed 44 to 53.

Similar amendments from Johanns and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) already failed in September.

Before taking up the 1099 amendments, the Senate voted 69 to 26 to move forward on the food safety bill Monday evening. A vote on final passage has been scheduled for Tuesday (see below), and the House is then likely to pick up the Senate bill despite having passed its own version in July 2009.

The Obama administration has acknowledged that the 1099 provision creates unduly burdens on businesses and called for the Senate to repeal it. http://bit.ly/gOqWSZ

Read more...

California’s seven largest health insurers face $4.85 million in fines for improper and late claim payments, according to The Associated Press.

On average, the insurers paid about 80 percent of claims correctly, well below the 95 percent required by state law, the California Department of Managed Health Care said Monday.

The following fines were issued:
• Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California: $900,000
• United/Pacificare: $800,000
• HealthNet: $750,000
• Kaiser Foundation Health Plan: $750,000
• Cigna: $450,000
• Aenta: $300,000

The insurers also have to pay restitution to hospitals and health providers, which may cost tens of millions of dollars, the department said.

The California Association of Health Plans is preparing a response on behalf of insurers, a spokeswoman told the AP.

The House passed a one-month, $1 billion “fix” to the Medicare physician payment formula Monday afternoon, two days before doctors were scheduled to take a 23 percent hit in Medicare payments.

The House approved by voice vote the Senate’s plan to fund the fix through cuts to payments for certain therapy services. The bill, which had passed the Senate on Nov. 18, now awaits the president’s signature.

If signed into law, a 2.2 percent update in physician payments will be put in place through the end of the year. This will be funded by expected savings from a 20 percent reduction in payments for therapy services.

The payment cuts to physical therapists are not as steep as the 25 percent cut previously proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Savings from the cuts will be used to pay for the "doc fix" instead of being redistributed to participants in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

When the Senate approved its fix earlier this month, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement they would work on a year-long fix to the Sustainable Growth Rate formula that can be enacted before the end of the year.

The American Medical Association praised Congress for passing a one-month fix, but it urged lawmakers to quickly delay the scheduled payment cuts for an additional year.

"While this short-term delay helps ensure that physicians can continue to care for seniors for the next month, congressional action early in December to stop the cut for one year will inject stability into the Medicare program and ensure that Medicare delivers on its promise of health coverage for America’s seniors," the AMA said. "It is crucial that Congress act well before the January 1 deadline so there are no disruptions in care for seniors."

Senate leaders have agreed to postpone a vote on two amendments and final passage of food-safety legislation until Tuesday morning, congressional sources tell The Hill.

The move would give Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) time to debate the merits of his two amendments to the legislation. One amendment is a stripped-down substitute to the bill — the other is a moratorium on congressionally directed appropriations.

"A morning vote is the right move," a spokesman for Coburn told The Hill. "Reid would be sending the wrong message to have a late night vote on keeping the lights on at the earmark favor factory."

Votes on two other amendments to repeal the healthcare reform law's 1099 tax reporting requirements are still scheduled for Monday evening.

The Senate bill would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to recall tainted food, quarantine geographic areas and access food producers’ records.

The House passed its version of food-safety legislation in July 2009. House leaders say the lower chamber could pass the Senate bill as is during this lame-duck session in order to get the bill to the president's desk before a new Congress is sworn in.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) is calling on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Donald Berwick to brief the House Energy and Commerce Committee before the end of the lame-duck session.

Earlier this month, Berwick provided his first testimony to Congress since his recess appointment. After the Senate Finance Committee hearing, Republicans complained they were not given enough time to question the CMS chief.

"Although I was happy to see you finally appear before a Congressional committee to discuss both your work at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), you would agree that your time before the Senate Finance Committee was short," Barton wrote in a Monday letter to Berwick.

Barton, who is seeking the Energy and Commerce Committee chairmanship, asked Berwick to brief the committee's Republican members, and he also invited Democrats to participate.

"I believe many would respond favorably to your willingness to brief Members of the House before the Majority changes hands in the new year," Barton said.

Berwick has been heavily criticized by Republicans, who claim he wants to ration seniors' healthcare.