On the Hill: House 340B Legislation, Suprise Billing Noise

House 340B Legislation to Delay Rebate Pilot

America's Essential Hospitals has raised significant concerns about the rebate model's burden on essential hospitals with both the administration and congressional offices and has endorsed the 340B Rebate Model Delay Act.

America's Essential Hospitals urges you to contact your members of Congress and ask them to support and cosponsor the bipartisan 340B Rebate Model Delay Act, H.R. 10770, introduced Friday, Oct. 9, by Reps. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Tracey Mann (R-Kan.), and Lois Frankel (D-Fla.). The bipartisan legislation would delay implementation of the 340B Rebate Model Pilot Program for two years and preserve upfront 340B discounts for covered entities, providing needed stability for covered entities as the Jan. 1 start date for the pending Rebate Model Pilot Program looms. The association has also signed onto a stakeholder letter that seeks to communicate support for the bill that will be shared with the bill's sponsors. It is open to all national, state, and local organizations, including hospitals and community health centers. To sign your hospital on, please fill out this form. The deadline is Friday, Oct. 23.

Surprise Billing Activity

Last week, Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) introduced the Lower Premiums, Faster Payments Act, which would significantly modify the No Surprises Act's independent dispute resolution (IDR) process to replace the current arbitration framework with a payment methodology based on the median in-network rate base payments on median contracted rates and require insurers to issue payments within 30 days of the claim being filed. Competing legislation sponsored by Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), the No Suprises Enforcement Act, also aims to make changes to the IDR process. On the Senate side, there have been indications that Senate HELP Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA) wants to move legislation to address surprise medical billing before he leaves Congress at the end of the year.

With the election less than 20 days away, lawmakers are starting to weigh which of the bipartisan health care issues they want to prioritize in the 120^th Congress, regardless of who wins control of each chamber.

Committee Activity This Week

The House and Senate are both adjourned until after the midterm elections.

Join the Federal Action Network Today!

Stay connected to the latest from Washington. Join our Federal Action Network (FAN) - free for members - and gain exclusive access to advocacy expertise and updates.

All FANs are invited to join our upcoming webinar next Tuesday, "2026 Midterm Elections - What You Need to Know," on Oct. 20, noon to 1 pm ET. We will be joined by Greg Giroux, an elections reporter with Bloomberg, to discuss the upcoming midterms.