Health Care Legislative & Public Policy

There has seemingly never been a more uncertain time in the health care industry. Insight into the impact of proposed legislative and regulatory changes is critical to your decision making. Providers are facing smaller reimbursements, escalating costs, and increasing market pressures, while payers are buffeted between the prevailing winds of new payment models and game-changing new technologies. All these risks are underpinned by the threat of sweeping changes from Congress or the Administration.

Alston & Bird provides bipartisan, dedicated legislative and regulatory advocacy services to health care stakeholders with issues before Congress and the Administration. We deliver a comprehensive suite of health law and policy services targeted to the advocacy needs of major players in the health care system.

Our knowledge and relationships extend far and wide into Executive Branch agencies and to congressional committees and individual member and leadership offices, where many of us have served in leadership roles as former elected and appointed officials and in senior staff positions, from the Senate to the House and from HHS to the White House.

We offer solutions-driven resources in all aspects of legislative and public policy advocacy, producing meaningful outcomes at the federal agencies affecting health care coverage, payment, and quality, including HHS operating divisions such as CMS, HRSA, and FDA and the congressional committees that fund and oversee them.

We also provide crucial guidance, strategies, and access to decision makers at Washington’s “scorekeeping” entities—the Congressional Budget Office and the White House Office of Management and Budget—where the success or failure of policy goals is often ultimately decided. Our connections to federal health policy research, support, and oversight agencies, including the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, Government Accountability Office, HHS Office of Inspector General, and Institute of Medicine, distinguishes us as a full-service, wide-scope health policy asset that creates opportunity for advancement on all branches of the policy decision tree.

Since 2004, we have achieved significant victories for clients in major Medicare, Medicaid, and tax legislation and in federal regulations implementing those statutes. Some notable highlights include:

• Developed and executed a congressional, Administrative and third party advocacy strategy to establish a new payment policy for a breakthrough mammography technology.
• Created and managed a coalition on breast cancer, developed and executed a congressional strategy for breast cancer preventive screening, and passed the legislation. Also executed an advocacy strategy to extend the original legislation for an additional period of time—it passed.
• Provided regulatory guidance and advocacy strategy to reverse a Medicare audit contractor arbitrary payment decision.
• Disproportionate Share Hospital payments: Developed and executed more than 10 years of legislative language to provide Medicaid DSH payments for a state association. After 10 years of annual payments, our advocacy effort succeeded in passing language for 10 years of funding.
• Protected numerous at-risk sectors from payment reductions in physician fee schedule legislation.
• Protected a unique class of products from a durable medical equipment Competitive Bidding Program and achieved broad protections for certain long-term care facilities and specialized Medicare Advantage plans.
• Created an important legal and payment policy change for rehabilitation hospitals.
• Secured authority for vaccine administration reimbursement for a Medicare Part D vaccine.
• Obtained favorable treatment of cost-sharing services associated with a major preventive service.
• Secured increased payment of more than $400 million for certain clients that provide Medicare services to beneficiaries with chronic health conditions.