Filibusters & Fine Print

AMGA's public policy team runs through Capitol Hill happenings as rising healthcare costs and consolidation draw more attention from Congress and the Trump Administration. This episode covers current financial pressures on providers, including H.R. 1 Medicaid implementation, Medicare reimbursement, site-neutral payment proposals, and increased oversight. It also dives into other Congressional focu...

Lauren and Darryl unpack one of the more consequential conversations AMGA has had in recent memory: CMMI Director Abe Sutton's meeting with AMGA's Board of Directors. Darryl breaks down Sutton's priorities — a push for downside risk, longer and more stable model designs like the new LEAD model, and a genuine interest in using AI as a workforce extender in the face of a looming clinician shortage....

Lauren and Darryl are co-piloting this week’s Filibusters and Fine Print , where they discuss Congress’s continued focus on healthcare affordability and the likelihood of a major healthcare payment stability package passing this year. The flight includes stops at the AMGA Annual Conference in Vegas, the famed Ways and Means Committee room in DC, and visits to our friends in the Energy and Commerce...

Recorded live at AMGA's Annual Conference in Las Vegas, the Filibusters & Fine Print team breaks down the biggest challenges facing medical groups today — and what AMGA is doing about them. The discussion covers the AMGA MACRA and Value-based Care Task Force and its six-pillar reform framework, which is gaining traction on Capitol Hill. The team also shares an update on bipartisan legislation...

In this special bonus episode of Filibusters & Fine Print , recorded live at AMGA's 2026 Annual Conference, Chet Speed is joined by the Public Policy team to share their five biggest takeaways from the week, from members reimagining care delivery from the ground up, to the growing urgency of physician advocacy engagement on Capitol Hill. The team also tackles a sobering reality: for many membe...

Affordability reform is coming but will Congress support positive policy reforms or undermine it? In this episode, we examine the latest congressional hearing on provider-driven health care costs through an AMGA lens. As policymakers scrutinize pricing, consolidation, and payment differences, we explore how these debates intersect with AMGA’s core legislative and regulatory priorities.

The AMGA Public Policy Team unpacks the growing focus in Washington, DC on combating waste, fraud, and abuse in federal healthcare programs. The discussion explores recent actions from the Trump Administration, ongoing congressional investigations, and a high-profile House hearing examining the role of CMS in safeguarding Medicare and Medicaid.

The clinician shortage is hardly easy as pie and in this week's episode, the AMGA policy team unpacks why fixing it is even harder than it looks. The conversation connects two federal issues: the House Ways and Means Committee's recent hearing on the next generation of America's healthcare workforce and proposed federal student loan caps under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that could make medical...

In this week’s episode, the AMGA policy team break down our recently sent letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and share what Dr. Oz said during Health Care Value Week. The conversation covers the real cost of prior authorization burdens, why automated patient portal notifications are causing harm, and why Congress must act to make pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities permanent. The tea...

The Trump Administration and Congress are interested in deploying artificial intelligence to improve health care. But what does that mean for providers and patients? The AMGA team turns the podcast over to Claudi.ai to outline our discussion on HHS policy, congressional action, and how providers are deploying AI.

Congress is concerned about affordability in healthcare and is looking at how administrative and regulatory complexity is contributing to higher costs. The AMGA team discussed two recent hearings on how payment instability and burdens such as prior authorization contribute to physician burnout. After the policy trio welcomes a surprise guest, they turned their attention to congressional interest i...

When is Medicaid financing "money laundering" and when is it "creative financing"? The Trump administration just finalized rules that will cut $900 billion from Medicaid over the next decade—closing the "B1/B2 test loophole” and slashing State Directed Payments. In this episode, the AMGA Public Policy team unpacks two massive rule changes that are about to upend how states fund Medicaid: new restr...

What do oligopolies and "maxxxing" have in common? Health insurance executives testifying on Capitol Hill. In this episode of Filibusters and Fine Print, the AMGA Public Policy team dives deep into the explosive House hearings on healthcare affordability, breaking down what the heat on insurers really means for physicians, patients, and what's next for health policy on the Hill. Don't miss this ti...

This episode examines the administrative burden in American healthcare, where physicians spend an average of two full business days weekly on paperwork rather than patient care. Outdated regulations create unnecessary complexity, requiring extensive documentation for routine matters like approving basic medical equipment. In for Season 2, Episode 19, the AMGA policy team examines how this administ...

Congress is facing another deadline of Jan. 30 to extend critical healthcare policies and programs. Join the AMGA public policy team for Season 2, Episode 17 of Filibusters and Fine Print as they add flavor to the critical healthcare extenders debate before Congress such as Medicare telehealth flexibilities, Hospital-at-Home, the GPCI floor, and Medicaid DSH cuts. This package is a little differen...

In our latest Filibusters & Fine Print episode, we break down CMS's Contract Year 2027 MA proposed rule—but the real story is the Request for Information asking fundamental questions about Medicare Advantage's future direction. With MA covering over half of Medicare beneficiaries, plans facing unexpected costs, providers caught between payment cuts and Congressional scrutiny through the "No Up...

Congress may have missed the memo that 2026 has arrived; they're still stuck in 2025 mode, and the clock is ticking toward a critical Jan. 30 deadline. Join the AMGA public policy team for the Season 2, Episode 15 of Filibusters and Fine Print as they break down the high-stakes healthcare extenders on the line: Medicare telehealth flexibilities, Hospital-at-Home, the GPCI floor, and Medicaid DSH c...

It's been a year of seismic shifts, hard-won victories, and unexpected chaos in healthcare policy. From the longest government shutdown in history to regulatory achievements, the AMGA Public Policy team has been in the trenches the whole way. In this special year-end episode of "Filibusters & Fine Print," the AMGA team counts down their top 10 accomplishments of 2025—and then debates live whic...

In episode #14 of Season 2 of "Filibusters & Fine Print," the AMGA team cuts through the seemingly disparate regulations of the Trump Administration and reveals four major policy themes shaping healthcare delivery: systematically shifting care to lower-cost settings, supporting Medicare Advantage as the future of Medicare, scaling mandatory alternative payment models that demonstrate measurabl...

The 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule dropped on Halloween, and while it's not quite a horror show this year, it's far from a treat. For the first time, CMS split the conversion factor—creating separate rates of $33.5675 for qualifying APM participants (3.77% increase) and $33.4009 for non-qualifying providers (3.26% increase)—with most of the boost coming from last-minute congressio...

The government shutdown is over, but what did it mean for health care and what's coming next? In this episode, the team breaks down the immediate impacts of the shutdown on Medicare and Medicaid claims processing, why healthcare providers were particularly vulnerable, and what's actually in (and notably missing from) the compromise funding deal that reopened the government. Our panel explores the...

It's 11 PM on a Friday night, and you just received a portal notification: your test results suggest cancer. Your doctor won't be available until Monday. This is the unintended consequence of well-meaning federal rules designed to give patients faster access to their health information. In this episode, the AMGA public policy team explores the Cures Act's "information blocking" provisions and why...

Is $50 billion enough to save rural healthcare? In this episode, the AMGA team dives deep into the Rural Health Transformation Fund—a program born from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that promises up to $500 million per state over five years. But there's a catch: the same legislation cuts almost $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade. Join the AMGA public policy team as we unpack what this...

The team sits down with incoming AMGA Chair Beth Averbeck to discuss her experience with palliative and hospice care, from both a clinical and policy perspective. Ensuring patient dignity and wishes at end of life presents a number of policy challenges, and Dr. Averbeck and the team discuss possible solutions.

In Season #2 Episode 8, the AGMA team discussed how the government shutdown is affecting healthcare. The team discussed how the shutdown is disrupting telehealth and hospital-at-home programs, how AMGA members are responding to the shutdown, and what the key political sticking points preventing a resolution are. Additional details and all episodes are available on the AMGA website .