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An unusual coalition of Democrats and conservative Republicans is calling for increased funding for the National Institutes of Health, but the lawmakers must contend with spending caps known as the sequester. Bipartisan legislation introduced this week, called 21st Century Cures, would provide billions of dollars in new funding for medical research at NIH. The caps provide a major obstacle. But coming on the heels of a major deal to reform Medicare payments, the passage of the bill would be another bipartisan accomplishment on healthcare. (Sullivan and Ferris, 5/2)

Tucked into a Congressional draft bill for jump starting medical innovation is a passage that would undo a portion of a federal law requiring drug and device makers to disclose payments to doctors. Specifically, the 21st Century Cures bill would no longer require these companies to report payments made to doctors for continuing medical education sessions, medical journal reprints or textbooks. (Silverman, 5/1)

The American Hospital Association is pushing to end a system in which some auditors for Medicare keep a share of disputed payments through contingency fees. The influential trade group is lobbying for a House bill (HR 2156), offered by Reps. Sam Graves, R-Mo., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., that would alter the operations of the recovery audit program. Among its aims is to shift this program away from a system in which the recovery audit contractors, or RACs, are paid by keeping about 9 percent to 12.5 percent of every claim they deny, the group said. They would instead get flat fees, as other Medicare contractors do. (Young, 5/1)