Washington Letter
December
- Brief Weekend Government Shutdown Likely as Congress Struggles to Reach Spending Agreement
- COVID-19 Relief Legislation
- Joint ATS/CHEST Webinar: Everything You Need to Know About the CMS 2021 Final Payment Rule
- Congress Working to Finalize 2021 Spending and COVID-19 Stimulus
- COVID-19 Relief Legislation
- ATS Joins Letter Seeking Climate Change Funding
- Environmental Protection Agency Retains Current Particulate Matter Standard
- EPA Issues Cost/Benefit Rule that Ignores Health Benefits of Clean Air
- ATS December Research News Quarterly is Out!
- ATS Submits Recommendations on NIH COVID Research Plan
- CDC Issues New COVID Guidance – For First Time Recommends Universal Mask Use
- CMS Increases E/M Payments, Cuts Other Services in Final Medicare Physician Payment Rule
- COVID-19 Relief Legislation
- Budget and Appropriations
November
- ATS Joins with Critical Care Professional Societies to Call for National COVID-19 Strategy
- ATS Surveys New Pulmonary Rehabilition CPT Codes
- Congress Negotiating on 2021 Spending and COVID-19 Stimulus
- ATS Health Policy Committee Commentary on ICE Proposal Affecting International Medical Trainees
- Supreme Court Hears ACA Case Arguments
- ATS Surveys New Pulmonary Rehabilitation CPT Codes
- Senate Appropriators Release 2021 Health Funding Proposals
- ATS Joins Health Groups in Urging FDA to Act on Menthol Cigarettes
- Voters Support Tobacco Control Ballot Measures
October
- ATS Urges ICE to Withdraw Duration of Status Proposal for J-1 Physician Trainees
- ATS Joins Amicus Brief in Support of Graphic Warning Labels for Cigarettes
- COVID-19 Threathens to Reverse TB Progress - WHO TB Report
- New Federal Antibiotic Resistance Action Plan Released
- Earn CME Credit in Upcoming Webinar on Initiating Tobacco Dependence Pharmacotherapy
- Next Issue of ATS Coding and Billing Quarterly Now Available
- 2021 Government Spending Measure Enacted
- House Energy and Commerce Committee Passess Oxygen Legislation
- ATS Joins Letter to EPA Urging More Protective Ozone Standard
September
- Court Temporarily Blocks EPA Rollback of Methane Emissions Rule
- House to Vote on 2021 Short-Term Government Spending Bill
- September Research News Quarterly
- Senate COVID-19 Relief Legislation Fails
- NIH Director Testifies Before Senate Panel on COVID-19 Vaccine
- ATS Calls for Revision of CDC COVID-19 Testing Guidelines
- CDC Data Shows Decline in Youth E-Cigarette Use, But Highlights the Lure of Flavored Products
August
- CMS Releases Proposed Medicare 2021 Payment Rule
- Senate Leaders Release Narrower COVID-19 Relief Legislation
- ATS Supports Pediatric Education Incentive Program Funding
- ATS Testifies Before Congress on Climate Change
- ATS Opposes EPA's Proposed Cost/Benefit Rule
- Progress on Federal COVID Relief Package; Deadline of Aug. 7 Set for Final Deal
- ATS Supports Research Infrastructure Funding Effort
July
- Senate Struggles to Move COVID Relief Package
- ATS Member Supports Fetal Tissue Research in Comments Before New Ethics Board
- House of Representatives Passes 2021 Health Spending Bill Including 13 Percent NIH Funding Increase
- Senate COVID Relief Legislation Stalls
- House Approves Funding Increase for VA Research Program
- Stop TB USA Calls for Strengthened Public Health Programs to Combat COVID and TB
- ATS Calls for More Protective Ozone Clean Air Standard
- ATS Opposes Trump COVID Data Reporting Policy
- Trump Administration Drops International Online Education Policy
- ATS Issues Statement Supporting NIAID Director Anthony Fauci
- Senate Working on COVID Relief Legislation
- House Appropriations Committee Approves 13 Percent Increase NIH Funding Increase in 2021
- Trump Administration Acts to Withdraw U.S. from WHO
- House Panel Approves NIH and Research Infrastructure Funding
- ATS Joins Medical Societies to Oppose Trump Administration Order Suspending Immigration Visas
- House Passes Affordable Care Act Expansion Legislation
- ATS Files Amicus Brief in Support of California's Vehicle Tailpipe Emissions Authority
- ATS Urges CMS to Waive Budget Neutrality in EM Payments
June
- House Panel Holds Hearing on Trump Administration Oversight of COVID-19 Pandemic
- ATS Joins Letter to EPA Calling for More Protective PM Standard
- ATS Joins Efforts Opposing U.S. Withdrawal from WHO
- ATS Calls for Moratorium on Tear Gas Use
- EPA Issues Proposed Rule to Change Clean Air Cost/Benefit Calculations
- Richard Woychik Appointed Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
- June ATS Research News Quarterly Features Interview with NHLBI Director and COVID Series
- ATS Advocates for NHLBI COVID-Related Research
May
- ATS Submits Comments on EPA Transparency Rule
- ATS Testifies on EPA Final Particulate Matter Pollution Rule
- FDA Delays Graphic Warning Label Deadline By 120 Days
- House Passes Additional COVID-19 Relief Funding - Trump Threatens Veto
- ATS Urges US Supreme Court to Save the Affordable Care Act
- NIAID Director Fauci Testifies Before Senate Panel
- ATS Joins Effort Urging Funding for Pediatric Providers
- House Panel Holds Hearing on COVID-19 Response
- ATS Supports NIEHS COVID-19 Related Research
- ATS Joins Effort Urging Data Collection on Health Disparities Among COVID-19 Patients
- CMS Issues Revised COVID Coverage and Payment Policies - Increases Payment for Audio-Only Telemedicine
- ATS Urges Congress to Support U.S. Research Infrastructure
April
- Washington Enacts Additional COVID-19 Economic Relief Bill
- VA Issues FOA/RFA for COVID-19 Related Pulmonary Rehabilitation Research - Letter of Intent Deadline Friday, May 1st
- Court Extends FDA Tobacco Application Deadlines to Sept. 9, 2020
- ATS Files Amicus Brief in Court Challenge to EPA GHG Rule
- Peer Societies Join ATS in Call for Further Congressional Action on COVID-19
- CMS Revises COVID-19 Telemedicine Coding Instructions
- EPA Finalizes Rollback of Mercury Air Toxics Rule
- EPA Issues Final Particulate Matter Standard
- ATS Issues COVID-19 Specific Coding and Billing Guidance for Physicians
- ATS Supports Funding for Surveillance of Secondary Bacterial Infections and Antibiotic Resistance Related to COVID-19
- ATS Asks Congress and Administration for Immediate Policy Action on COVID-19
- ATS Joins Efforts Supporting Public Health Funding For COVID-19 Response
- ATS Comments on Journal Access Proposal, Urges NIH to Provide Rapid Funding Mechanisms for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Implementation of COPD Action Plan
- EPA Rolls Back Vehicle Emissions and Mileage Requirements
- FDA Seeks Delay in Court Ordered E-Cigarette Application Deadline
March
- ATS and Sister Organizations Urge Continued Commitment to Social Distancing
- Congress Passes COVID-19 Economic Stimulus Package
- ATS Joins AMA Urging Congress to Address Health Needs in COVID-19 Financial Relief Bill
- ATS Joins Patient Organizations Requesting CMS Waiver for In-Person Oxygen Certification/Re-certification
- ATS Commemorates World TB Day
- ATS Talks to President Trump, Vice President Pence and Senior Administration Officials About COVID19 Response
- CMS Expands Telehealth Services and Other Options for E-visits Effective March 6, 2020
- Second COVID-19 Response Measure Enacted; Coverage for COVID-19 Testing Included
- ATS Holds District Advocacy Week
- House Passes Comprehensive Tobacco Control Bill
- EPA Releases Next Version of "Secret Science Rule"
- Emergency Measure for Coronavirus Response Enacted
- Supreme Court to Hear Affordable Care Act Challenge
February
- Administration Proposes Moving Tobacco Regulation Out of FDA
- Trump 2021 Budget Proposes Deep Cuts to Health Research and Services Programs
- Trump Administration Offers Medicaid Block Grant Option to States
January
- Supreme Court Declines to Hear Affordable Care Act Challenge
- ATS Testifies Before EPA Science Advisory Board
Last Reviewed: December 2020
