Committee Activity

The Committee on Small Business will meet for a hearing titled, “Utilization Management: Barriers to Care and Burdens on Small Medical Practice.” The hearing is scheduled to begin at 11:30 A.M. on Wednesday, September 11, 2019 in Room 2360 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

Health care providers want nothing more than to provide their patients the highest quality and most clinically appropriate care. However, due to utilization management programs such as prior authorization and step therapy, doctors are forced to spend their time working with insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers instead of treating patients. While cost saving efforts are critical to the nation’s health system, such programs are affecting the quality of care and proving burdensome to many small medical practices. The hearing will examine how the programs work and how they are impacting small medical practitioners in a variety of settings.  

To view a livestream of the hearing, please click here. 

Hearing Notice 

Hearing Memo 

Witness List 

Witnesses 

Dr. Paul M. Harari
Professor
Chairman, Department of Human Oncology
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Madison, WI
*Testifying on behalf of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO)
Testimony 

Dr. David R. Walega, MSCI
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
Chief, Division of Pain Management
Vice Chair of Research, Department of Anesthesiology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Chicago, IL
*Testifying on behalf of the American Society of Anesthesiologists
Testimony

Dr. John S. Cullen, FAAFP
Family Physician & Partner
Valdez Medical Clinic, LLC
Valdez, AK
*Testifying on behalf of the American Academy of Family Physicians
Testimony 

Dr. Howard Rogers, PhD, FAAD
Owner
Advanced Dermatology, LLC
Norwich, CT
*Testifying on behalf of the American Academy of Dermatology Association
Testimony 

*Witness testimony will be posted within 24 hours after the hearing’s occurrence