Judith Waltz on Trump Administration Deregulation Order, Impact on CMS

Foley & Lardner LLP partner Judith Waltz commented on the Trump administration’s executive order requiring federal agencies cut ten regulations for each newly created one in the Modern Healthcare article, “CMS may evade Trump’s sweeping deregulation order.”

Waltz, chair of Foley’s Health Care Practice, said the order could apply to policies as big as a full rule, as small as single-line policy tweaks or technical updates, or anything in between. She pointed out that during President Trump’s first term, a similar executive order was issued which had such a meager effect on health care regulations that it has largely been forgotten.

Waltz highlighted that additional details on how the order will apply to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are forthcoming, including specification on what qualifies as a “regulation.” She also noted that it is likely the process of drafting and finalizing rules will slow and regulators may potentially opt to just compile various policies into omnibus rules .

“They could just structure it so we get longer rules,” Waltz commented. “There wouldn’t be so many standalones. They’d likely be more consolidated, and maybe that’s not a bad thing, if they’re consolidated appropriately.”

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