Trump health care nominees, policies have health care organizations waiting for more

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A medical group and a patient advocacy organization are in holding pattern – at least for now – as President Donald Trump, his leadership nominees and lawmakers analyze the U.S. health care system.

Jan. 29 was the Senate Finance Committee nomination hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions will take up deliberations on Jan. 30.

Policy analysts for the Alliance for Aging Research and AMGA, the American Medical Group Association, said they and their peers are waiting for the next steps on potential effects on health care. Both organizations this month published policy suggestions regarding rules in the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid. They spoke with Medical Economics about those and the hearing on the president’s nominee, also known as RFK Jr.

What comes next?

“Right now we're in this moment where I've been hearing the word ‘barrage’ a lot,” said Adina Lasser, director of public policy and government relations for the Alliance for Aging Research. That organization works with patients, legislators and others to support healthy aging.

“The president is making a number of executive orders and changes to federal policy that are going to impact a lot of people. We've been seeing some things about him shutting off science grants, which we're concerned about when it comes to the research side of things,” Lasser said. “We're strongly supportive of researchers and scientists and the National Institutes of Health, and, just overall, the role that the government plays in creating the innovation that we're so known for here in the United States, in the pharmaceutical space, but also in learning more about these diseases and the basic science side of things. So that's a concern.”

Hints from the past?

The president’s first term could hint at potential policies in the second, Lasser said.

In his first term, Trump was interested in most-favored nations policy, or international reference pricing, for prescription drugs, Lasser said. “We're interested to see if that comes back,” she said. “We know from the first Trump administration that he does care about drug costs and lowering drug costs, so we're hoping that that happens in ways that benefits people at the pharmacy counter.”

Along with the nomination of Kennedy, Mehmet Oz, MD, is nominated to run the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, but has not been confirmed by the Senate. Lasser noted he has made some priorities known, such as supporting vitamin supplementation.

Whoever is in office, the AAR mission has not changed, Lasser said.

“What we care about is fighting for equity and fighting for access,” she said. “I'll say also that our values have not changed with the change in administration, and that's important to us.”

Re-establishing trust

The Alliance for Aging Research did not publish an official position about the Kennedy nomination because its leaders want to talk about policy, not person, Lasser said.

His stance on vaccine safety and effectiveness have been controversial. The Alliance this year sponsored “Trust in Science: The High-Stakes Game for U.S. Public Health,” an online forum with public policy and health experts to discuss inoculations. The forum was hosted by The Hill political news website.

“That's important to us,” Lasser said. “It was all about how to re-establish trust in our institutions, our scientists, our physicians, the people that really have our best interests at heart and that have worked really hard to make sure that things are safe and effective before people actually use them.

“We really want to see older adults, but also everybody, protected from these diseases that are essentially eliminated right now,” she said.

Addressing chronic disease

If Kennedy is confirmed as HHS leader, there could be an opportunity to work with him and his team on issues that are important to AMGA, said Darryl Drevna, MA, AMGA senior director, regulatory affairs.

“I think that top of mind comes the need to address chronic disease,” Drevna said. “That I think will resonate with him and his team over at HHS. And then at CMS, what policies can we pursue to ensure patients with chronic disease get the care they need?”

Kennedy has stated he could focus on areas that are outside traditional health care policy, such as food policy, Drevna said, adding that is outside his own area of expertise.

“Anyone who wants to talk about how we can help patients adhere to their medications, how we can help them get access to care when they need it, and how can we really try to prevent chronic disease and treat chronic disease for those who you have a diagnosis, I think will be a welcome conversation between AMGA and our members and the incoming team at HHS, should he get confirmed,” Drevna said.