Lance's Corner

FDA Issues Health Care Stakeholders Update

Mar 1, 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


March 1, 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 John TaylorDid you know John Taylor? In 1959, he became the first black chemist to join the Detroit District Office.

After his 30-year service to the agency, he was chosen in 1990 as one of the 16 experts from government, academia, industry and the health sector empaneled by the HHS Secretary to conduct a comprehensive study and issue recommendations on the structure, function and mission of FDA.

To learn more about John Taylor, feel free to read his oral history interview.

 


FDA Voices

FDA Helps to Deliver Meaningful Advances for Rare Disease Patients

Rare Disease Day graphic

Advancing the understanding of rare diseases and innovative tools to support product development is part of the FDA's commitment to promoting safe, effective treatment options for patients.

 


Guidance Documents

Clinical Pharmacology Considerations for Antibody-Drug Conjugates Guidance for Industry

This guidance provides recommendations to assist industry and other parties involved in the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with a cytotoxic small-molecule drug or payload.

Key Information and Facilitating Understanding in Informed Consent Guidance for Sponsors, Investigators, and Institutional Review Boards

This draft guidance provides recommendations related to two provisions of the revised Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (the revised Common Rule) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and identical provisions in FDA’s proposed rule “Protection of Human Subjects and Institutional Review Boards.” The FDA’s proposed rule, if finalized, would harmonize certain sections of FDA’s regulations on human subject protections and institutional review boards (IRBs), to the extent practicable and consistent with other statutory provisions, with the revised Common Rule, in accordance with the 21st Century Cures Act. The guidance addresses the provisions of the revised Common Rule that require informed consent to begin with key information about the research and to present information in a way that facilitates understanding and identical provisions in FDA’s proposed rule.

Reporting Amount of Listed Drugs and Biological Products Technical Conformance Guide

FDA is issuing this Technical Conformance Guide (guide) to assist registrants of drug establishments (or their authorized agents) in submitting reports on the amount of each listed drug manufactured, prepared, propagated, compounded, or processed for commercial distribution, as required by section 510(j)(3) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), as added by section 3112(e) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).


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 Rare Disease Day 2024

March 1, 2024; 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. ET

This year’s Rare Disease Day is dedicated to patients and health care professionals. Panels will discuss:

  • The legal framework for approving studies and medical products at FDA
  • What FDA does during review processes to approve medical products
  • Decentralized clinical trials and digital health technologies
  • Where to find important information and documents related to clinical trials
  • Information that can be obtained from medical product labels
  • Legal and ethical requirements for consent forms in clinical trials
  • FDA initiatives to advance medical product development for rare diseases
  • Ways for patients to engage with FDA

 


Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Meeting

March 5, 2024; 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET

The committee will meet in open session to discuss and make recommendations on the selection of strains to be included in the influenza virus vaccines for the 2024 to 2025 influenza season.

 


Rare Neurodegenerative Disease Efforts Under the ACT for ALS

March 8, 2024; 12:30 p.m. - 2:40 p.m. ET

This hybrid meeting will provide an opportunity to share the 2024 priorities for Critical Path for Rare Neurodegenerative Diseases (CP-RND) program to provide an update on efforts from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) focused on rare neurodegenerative diseases.

 


FDA Grand Rounds: Evaluating Mutagenicity by Error-corrected Sequencing

March 14, 2024; 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET

Evaluating Mutagenicity

Somatic mutations are permanent and heritable genetic alterations that increase cancer risk. They can occur spontaneously but most often result from DNA damage induced by the environment (e.g., sunlight) or genotoxic compounds (e.g., chemical mutagens).


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