May 2026

ASH Committee on Practice Members Meet Over 45 Offices on Capitol Hill

On April 21, following the ASH Committee on Practice Spring business meeting, members of the committee visited over 45 offices on Capitol Hill. The committee urged Congress to cosponsor three bills:

Sickle Cell Disease Comprehensive Care Act (H.R. 5178/S.721) – Bipartisan legislation that aims to ensure that individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) have better access to comprehensive, high quality outpatient care by allowing states to establish Medicaid Health Home programs with SCD as the single qualifying condition for eligibility.
Improving Access to Transfusion Care for Hospice Act (S. 1936) – The bill would allow patients with blood cancers and other hematologic diseases and conditions to receive high-quality end-of-life care by creating a demonstration model to provide a separate Medicare payment for blood transfusions outside of the hospice bundled payment and, ultimately, promote the appropriate use of palliative blood transfusions in hospice.
Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025 (S. 1816/H.R. 3514) – The bills address several key aspects of the prior authorization process in Medicare Advantage plans to increase transparency and reduce the unnecessary burden associated with prior authorization.

Congress Moves Forward with Annual Appropriations; Act Now to Urge Congress to Reject Proposed NIH Cuts

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees will soon begin considering the Administration's proposed cuts of $5.787 billion (or 12.3 percent) to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) budget, undoing decades of bipartisan support for biomedical research. Cuts in funding will diminish the nation’s research capacity, slow scientific progress, and eliminate opportunities for the next generation of researchers.

Additionally, ASH submitted a statement to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) urging support for funding for NIH and other federal public health programs, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its Sickle Cell Data Collection program, in fiscal year (FY) 2027. The statement coincided with NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, testifying at a hearing held by the subcommittee to examine the President’s FY 2027 budget request for the NIH and related topics. National Cancer Institute (NCI) Director Anthony Letai, MD, PhD, and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Director Griffin Rodgers, MD, MACP, are testified at the hearing.

Advocacy now is critical. Decisions made in the coming months will determine whether NIH will have the resources it needs to advance medical research and sustain U.S. leadership in science and innovation. Lawmakers need to hear from constituents about the impact NIH funding has on the development of cures and treatments for serious diseases.

ASH and 200 Groups Urge House and Senate Appropriators to Support Increased CDMRP Funding in FY27 Defense Bill

On May 13, ASH and over 200 Groups sent letters to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations to Support increased funding for Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the Department of Defense (DoD) in the fiscal year (FY) 2027 Defense Appropriations bill.

The letter expresses appreciation for the bipartisan efforts to fund CDMRP at $1.27 billion in FY 2026 and urges Congress to increase funding for these critical programs above FY 2024 levels to approximately $1.62 billion in FY 2027. This investment is essential to ensure our nation is prepared to meet current and future public health-related threats and challenges to our national security. An increase in funding is particularly vital to mitigate the impact of inflation on the purchasing power of individual CDMRP programs, as well as the 57 percent reduction in spending for these programs resulting from the enactment of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act.

ASH Signs Letter to Appropriators re Federal Funding for Newborn Screening and Heritable Disorders

On April 21, ASH and 25 organizations sent a letter to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations to request an increase in funding to the amount of $29 million for the CDC Newborn Screening Quality Assurance Program (NSQAP) and $29 million for the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) Heritable Disorders Program to continue to invest in newborn screening programs. These increased resources will support staffing, equipment, quality testing, and technical assistance to states and U.S. territories as they work to include all Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP) conditions on their panels to avoid preventable deaths and disability.

ASH Signs Amicus Brief Supporting FDA Authority and Access to Approved Medications

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently granted a stay in the ongoing case of Louisiana versus the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the use of mifepristone. This decision reinstates restrictive in-person dispensing requirements and blocks mail-order access. On May 7, ASH joined an amicus brief, led by Blood Cancer United and signed by other organizations, to challenge this ruling. The brief warns that overriding FDA’s 2023 Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) sets a hazardous precedent, shifting authority for scientific and clinical determinations from expert regulatory agencies to the courts, and threatens the integrity of the FDA’s drug approval process. On May 14, the Supreme Court granted the manufacturers’ request to stay the Fifth Circuit’s ruling. This means the FDA’s 2023 REMS remains in effect, and the pill can be dispensed by mail while the litigation proceeds in the Fifth Circuit. ASH will continue to monitor the case as it evolves. Read the brief here.

ASH Submits Comments to FDA on Draft Guidance for New Approach Methodologies in Drug Development

ASH submitted comments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) in response to the Agency’s draft guidance on General Considerations for the Use of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) in Drug Development. In its comments, ASH expressed support for FDA’s efforts to advance innovative approaches and encouraged the Agency to provide illustrative case studies and example datasets to support consistent implementation and reduce ambiguity. ASH also emphasized that NAMs should not be used in isolation and that additional clarity regarding their application, together with flexibility in model system selection, would help promote innovation, more efficient drug development processes, and the sustained generation of significant discoveries in hematology. Read the comments here.

ASH Responds to NIH’s RFI on Reducing Reliance on Human Embryonic Stem Cells in NIH-Supported Research

In late April, ASH submitted comments in response to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Request for Information on reducing reliance on human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in NIH-supported research. In its response, ASH emphasized that currently approved hESC lines remain essential for several areas of biomedical and hematology research, including studies on hematopoietic development, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and CRISPR gene engineering. ASH also highlighted the growing potential of alternative models, such as iPSCs, organoids, and organ-on-a-chip technologies, while encouraging NIH to continue investing in emerging technologies and bioethics research to advance scientifically rigorous and ethically informed stem cell research. Read the full response here.

Medicare Physician Payment Reform Legislation Introduced in Congress as Key Committee Holds Hearing on Payment Reform

Lawmakers recently introduced two pieces of legislation aimed at addressing long-standing concerns with Medicare physician reimbursement, payment stability, and performance measurement under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS).

The Medicare Physician Data-driven Performance Payment System Act of 2026 (H.R. 8622) would replace the current Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) with a new Data-driven Performance Payment System (DPPS) beginning in 2027. The legislation seeks to simplify physician performance measurement, reduce steep payment penalties, and improve transparency by requiring CMS to provide physicians with more timely performance feedback. The bill also proposes freezing the current MIPS performance threshold for three years while the Government Accountability Office studies alternative methodologies for physician performance assessment.

Separately, the bipartisan Provider Reimbursement Stability Act (H.R. 8163) proposes structural reforms to the MPFS intended to reduce annual payment volatility and modernize outdated budget neutrality policies. Pivotal provisions of the bill will:

Increase the budget neutrality threshold from $20 million to approximately $54.3 million beginning in 2027.
Index the budget neutrality threshold to the Medicare Economic Index (MEI).
Require CMS to revise spending estimates and budget neutrality adjustments based on actual after-the-fact utilization rates derived from claims data.
Require periodic updates to practice expense data.
Cap annual conversion factor adjustments at ±2.5 percent.

ASH submitted a statement for the record in advance of a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing entitled “Examining the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, MACRA, and Opportunities for Payment Reforms.” The Society’s comments highlight the challenges hematologists and their practices have experienced as a result of the erosion in the value of Medicare physician reimbursement and the increased cost in delivering care, combined with a hematology workforce shortage.