Biden Administration

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On August 7, 2022, after extensive deliberation, Senate Democrats passed their long-awaited reconciliation bill, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the Reconciliation Bill). In addition to climate and tax provisions, the Reconciliation Bill includes a revised drug pricing reform package that Democrats had approved last month. In this post, we review what passing the long-awaited drug pricing reforms means for Medicare recipients and for drug prices in the United States.

On June 22, 2022, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) issued guidance advocating for Congress and federal agencies to make permanent certain telehealth access measures for people struggling with substance use disorders (SUD). The guidance, titled Telehealth and Substance Use Disorder Services in the Era of Covid-19: Review and Recommendations (Guidance), made four recommendations geared at increasing telehealth access, utilization, and equity among individuals who have experienced an SUD. This blogpost with provide an analysis of the four recommendations and their implications. 

On March 21, President Biden warned U.S. companies to be on guard against Russian cyberattacks, citing intelligence as a call to action.

It is, somewhat amazingly, the beginning of January again. During this time of year we typically publish a series of blog posts that recap the most interesting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) activities over the prior 12 months and consider what the agency is likely to focus on going forward. This year, however, we’re taking a different approach and will be providing more of a birds-eye view of our favorite federal agency as it stands as of the end of 2021. Because there is just too much going on at the administrative, enforcement, and legislative levels to get into the details of everything in one fell swoop. So make sure you’re signed up for Mintz Health Law Viewpoints to receive updates throughout the year on issues as they develop.

On November 15th, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law. The historic infrastructure plan includes the single largest investment to address climate change in U.S. history. The Law allocates billions of dollars to priority areas, including significant funding for the development of carbon capture infrastructure, alternative energy sources and technologies (including, without limitation, solar, geothermal, clean hydrogen, advanced nuclear, hydroelectric power and battery technologies), grid infrastructure, and electric vehicle infrastructure.

Read about a Biden administration proclamation, issued on December 28, 2021, revoking the travel ban for individuals who had been present in eight countries in Southern Africa.

This alert covers the Biden administration’s ban on travel to the US for individuals who have been present in a number of countries in southern Africa within the past 14 days.

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) just announced that they will host a virtual workshop on December 6 and 7, 2021, to discuss the agencies’ efforts to promote competition in labor markets and worker mobility.

Read about the October 25, 2021 Presidential Proclamation confirming that it will end all COVID-19 travel bans on Monday, November 8 and how this policy change will impact nonimmigrant travelers to the U.S.

The Mintz Immigration Practice focused on the evolving immigration landscape and the anticipated changes to US immigration policies as of October 2021 in this 30-minute session.

The Biden Administration, via its Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (the “Task Force”), has now provided the guidance with which federal contractor and subcontractors must comply in connection with their contracts and contract-like instruments with the Federal government.