Lance's Corner

FDA Issues Health Care Stakeholders Update

Feb 23, 2024
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued its weekly regulatory update for stakeholders.  You can read the FDA regulatory update for stakeholders below.

FDA Stakeholder Update Banner

February 23, 2024

Dear Colleague,

While the FDA continues to focus on protecting the public’s health, using science to guide our decisions, and facilitating access to critical medical products, we also recognize the work of our public health partners. As public health advocates, we know that your work to better our country is invaluable. Your partnership, knowledge and engagement in the public health space are appreciated.

 

Updates

Spotlight!

2024 BHM Holston

 

This Black History Month, we're celebrating Sharon Smith Holston, who made lasting contributions to the FDA in the areas of equal employment opportunity, agency management, and international programs.

 

Consumer Updates

Always Tired? You May Have Sleep Apnea

Sleep Apnea graphic

Do you feel tired or have a headache when you wake up in the morning? Something might be going wrong while you sleep that you don’t know about: obstructive sleep apnea (pronounced app-nee-uh).

 

Keeping Your Milk Safe From the Grass to the Glass

milk ordinance graphic

Milk is one of the safest foods we can consume in the U.S. today. That wasn’t always the case. If you look back 100 years, milk was second only to water as a vehicle for transmitting disease, as noted in a 1924 U.S. Public Health Service article.

 

FDA Voices

FDA Science, Research, and Collaboration Advance Generic Medicines

2023 annual report graphic

By: Iilun Murphy, M.D., Director, Office of Generic Drugs, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research

Murphy Lilun imageGeneric drugs play a critical role in the U.S. health care system and allow patients greater access to needed medicines. The approval of generic drugs often means multiple manufacturers for medicines, which can help stabilize the supply chain and reduce risks from drug shortages. Americans may recognize the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory role in approving generic drugs, but few may know our work to advance generic drug development and assessment through our regulatory science and research programs.

 

 

Guidance Documents

Assessing COVID-19-Related Symptoms in Outpatient Adult and Adolescent Subjects in Clinical Trials of Drugs and Biological Products for COVID-19 Prevention or Treatment

The FDA is issuing this guidance to provide sponsors and investigators with considerations for approaches on how common COVID-19-related symptoms can be measured and analyzed in clinical trials evaluating drugs or biological products for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 in outpatient adult and adolescent subjects.

Select Updates for the Medical Device User Fee Small Business Qualification and Certification Guidance

The FDA has developed this draft guidance to propose select updates to the FDA guidance document Medical Device User Fee Small Business Qualification and Certification. This guidance provides additional information for the granting of the small business registration fee waiver. The existing guidance on small business user fees remains in effect, in its current form, until this draft guidance is finalized.

View all Official FDA Guidance Documents and other Regulatory Guidance
You can search for documents using key words, and you can narrow or filter your results by product, date issued, FDA organizational unit, type of document, subject, draft or final status, and comment period.

Webinars and Virtual Workshops

FDA/CDER and American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Hybrid Public Workshop

February 26, 2024; 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. ET

This workshop will explore the current state of the science in the field of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) for biologic products and current clinical practice in the United States and Europe. The potential benefits, limitations, and future considerations for TDM of large molecule therapeutics will be discussed.

 

HHS Black Health Forum

Wednesday, February 28, 2024; 9 - 11:30 a.m. ET

At this Forum, senior HHS, Biden-Harris Administration, and Black health leaders will highlight their work to improve equity and access to health care in the Black community. The Forum topics will focus on health care access, mental health, maternal mortality, and much more.

 

Product Quality Research Institute (PQRI) Workshop: MIDD Approaches in Pediatric Formulation Development

February 28 - 29, 2024

Day1: - ET

Day2: - ET

The objective of this workshop is to bring together industry, regulators, and academia to develop strategies to overcome current challenges with pediatric formulation development.

 

Integrated Safety Analyses in Drug Marketing Applications: Avoiding Common Mistakes

March 7, 2024; 1 - 2:30 p.m. ET

This webinar will discuss how and when to work with FDA to improve your integrated safety analyses and obtain answers to questions you may have about your application. In addition, common mistakes seen in integrated analyses will be discussed to help you avoid making the same mistakes.

 

View Upcoming FDA Meetings, Conferences and Workshops
Public meetings involving the FDA: Upcoming events, past meetings, meeting materials, and transcripts

About Us

The Stakeholder Engagement Staff resides within the Office of the Commissioner and falls under the Office of External Affairs. We aim to build stronger relationships with health professional organizations, consumer groups, trade associations, patient advocacy organizations, think tanks/academia, and other stakeholders, in order to better inform our policy making process, identify policy hurdles or stakeholder misconceptions, and create strategic collaborations. For more information, please contact us at: FDAStakeholderEngagement@fda.hhs.gov.

USDOL Issues Comprehensive Employer Guidance on Long COVID

The United States Department of Labor (USDOL) has issued a comprehensive set of resources that can be accessed below for employers on dealing with Long COVID.

Supporting Employees with Long COVID: A Guide for Employers

The “Supporting Employees with Long COVID” guide from the USDOL-funded Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN) and Job Accommodation Network (JAN) addresses the basics of Long COVID, including its intersection with mental health, and common workplace supports for different symptoms.  It also explores employers’ responsibilities to provide reasonable accommodations and answers frequently asked questions about Long COVID and employment, including inquiries related to telework and leave.

Download the guide

Accommodation and Compliance: Long COVID

The Long COVID Accommodation and Compliance webpage from the USDOL-funded Job Accommodation Network (JAN) helps employers and employees understand strategies for supporting workers with Long COVID.  Topics include Long COVID in the context of disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), specific accommodation ideas based on limitations or work-related functions, common situations and solutions, and questions to consider when identifying effective accommodations for employees with Long COVID.  Find this and other Long COVID resources from JAN, below:

Long COVID, Disability and Underserved Communities: Recommendations for Employers

The research-to-practice brief “Long COVID, Disability and Underserved Communities” synthesizes an extensive review of documents, literature and data sources, conducted by the USDOL-funded Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN) on the impact of Long COVID on employment, with a focus on demographic differences.  It also outlines recommended actions organizations can take to create a supportive and inclusive workplace culture for people with Long COVID, especially those with disabilities who belong to other historically underserved groups.

Read the brief

Long COVID and Disability Accommodations in the Workplace

The policy brief “Long COVID and Disability Accommodations in the Workplace” explores Long COVID’s impact on the workforce and provides examples of policy actions different states are taking to help affected people remain at work or return when ready.  It was developed by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) as part of its involvement in USDOL’s State Exchange on Employment and Disability (SEED) initiative.

Download the policy brief

Understanding and Addressing the Workplace Challenges Related to Long COVID

The report “Understanding and Addressing the Workplace Challenges Related to Long COVID” summarizes key themes and takeaways from an ePolicyWorks national online dialogue through which members of the public were invited to share their experiences and insights regarding workplace challenges posed by Long COVID.  The dialogue took place during summer 2022 and was hosted by USDOL and its agencies in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Surgeon General.

Download the report

Working with Long COVID

The USDOL-published “Working with Long COVID” fact sheet shares strategies for supporting workers with Long COVID, including accommodations for common symptoms and resources for further guidance and assistance with specific situations.

Download the fact sheet

COVID-19: Long-Term Symptoms

This USDOL motion graphic informs workers with Long COVID that they may be entitled to temporary or long-term supports to help them stay on the job or return to work when ready, and shares where they can find related assistance.

Watch the motion graphic

A Personal Story of Long COVID and Disability Disclosure

In the podcast “A Personal Story of Long COVID and Disability Disclosure,” Pam Bingham, senior program manager for Intuit’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Tech team, shares her personal experience of navigating Long COVID symptoms at work.  The segment was produced by the USDOL-funded Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT) as part of its ongoing “Future of Work” podcast series.

Listen to the podcast

HHS OIG Issues Annual Report on State MFCUs

Per the notice below, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued its annual report on the performance of state Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCUs).

Medicaid Fraud Control Units Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Report (OEI-09-24-00200) 

Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCUs) investigate and prosecute Medicaid provider fraud and patient abuse or neglect. OIG is the Federal agency that oversees and annually approves federal funding for MFCUs through a recertification process. This new report analyzed the statistical data on annual case outcomes—such as convictions, civil settlements and judgments, and recoveries—that the 53 MFCUs submitted for Fiscal Year 2023.  New York data is as follows:

Outcomes

  • Investigations1 - 556
  • Indicted/Charged - 9
  • Convictions - 8
  • Civil Settlements/Judgments - 28
  • Recoveries2 - $73,204,518

Resources

  • MFCU Expenditures3 - $55,964,293
  • Staff on Board4 - 257

1Investigations are defined as the total number of open investigations at the end of the fiscal year.

2Recoveries are defined as the amount of money that defendants are required to pay as a result of a settlement, judgment, or prefiling settlement in criminal and civil cases and may not reflect actual collections.  Recoveries may involve cases that include participation by other Federal and State agencies.

3MFCU and Medicaid Expenditures include both State and Federal expenditures.

4Staff on Board is defined as the total number of staff employed by the Unit at the end of the fiscal year.

Read the Full Report

View the Statistical Chart

Engage with the Interactive Map

GAO Issues Report on Medicaid Managed Care Service Denials and Appeal Outcomes

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report on federal use of state data on Medicaid managed care service denials and appeal outcomes.  GAO found that federal oversight is limited because it doesn't require states to report on Medicaid managed care service denials or appeal outcomes and there has not been much progress on plans to analyze and make the data publicly available.  To read the GAO report on federal use of state data on Medicaid managed care service denials and appeal outcomes, use the first link below.  To read GAO highlights of the report on federal use of state data on Medicaid managed care service denials and appeal outcomes, use the second link below.
https://www.gao.gov/assets/d24106627.pdf  (GAO report on federal use of state data on Medicaid managed care service denials and appeal outcomes)
https://www.gao.gov/assets/d24106627_high.pdf  (GAO highlights on federal use of state data on Medicaid managed care service denials and appeal outcomes)

CMS Issues Latest Medicare Regulatory Activities Update

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued its latest update on its regulatory activities in the Medicare program.  While dentistry is only minimally connected to the Medicare program, Medicare drives the majority of health care policies and insurance reimbursement policies throughout the country.  Therefore, it always pays to keep a close eye on what CMS is doing in Medicare.  To read the latest CMS update on its regulatory activities in Medicare, use the link below.
https://www.cms.gov/training-education/medicare-learning-network/newsletter/2024-03-14-mlnc