With this morning's release of the omnibus bill text (finally!) it’s time to talk about the winners and losers of this year’s health care appropriations season, Peter, Maya and Victoria write.

• And don't worry, Pro readers! You're all winners in our book.

Winners:

• Sens. Richard Burr and Patty Murray: They pushed through much of their pandemic preparedness bill.
• Academic medical centers: They blocked the VALID Act from being included, arguing it would have imposed burdensome regulations on them.
• Puerto Rico: The territory will have increased Medicaid funding and an FMAP of 76% for the next five years.
• Mothers and children: The bill makes permanent the ability of states to offer 12 months of Medicaid coverage postpartum. It also gives children on Medicaid one year of continuous coverage.
• Telehealth stakeholders (Medicare patients, providers and hospitals): Telehealth groups were pushing for as long of an extension of PHE flexibilities as possible. It seemed like a one-year extension was in play last week, but now it's become two years.
• PBMs (for now): A PBM transparency bill that had passed the House earlier this year was not included. But, as we’ve reported, it’s widely expected that PBM reform will be a focus of oversight in the next Congress.
• Reps. Paul Tonko and Mike Turner, and Sens. Maggie Hassan and Lisa Murkowski: They got their bill included to boost access to opioid treatment by removing a special DEA waiver that providers needed to prescribe the treatment.

Losers:

• Next-generation vaccines: Congress did not fulfill the White House request for COVID-19 funding, including for developing better vaccines that target an array of variants.
• Hospice providers: They're helping to pay for the package. The offsets include extending changes to the cap on how much hospice providers can receive from Medicare.
• Medical device companies: They pushed for the VALID Act, arguing the current diagnostic test oversight system is outdated, but didn’t get it. AdvaMed CEO Scott Whitaker called the bill's absence "very disappointing," adding, "The last thing we need is more Theranos-type tests in our health care system.”

Somewhere in the middle:

• Health care providers: Congress gave physicians relief from some of their Medicare cuts, but physicians say it’s not enough.
• “The AMA is extremely disappointed and dismayed that Congress failed to prevent Medicare cuts next year, threatening the financial viability of physician practices and endangering access to care for Medicare beneficiaries,” American Medical Association president Jack Resneck said in a statement yesterday.
• The bill made an effort to extend the bonus payment doctors get for participating in value-based care programs, but cut it down from 5% to 3.5% and continued it for only one more year.
• The package does include a two-year extension for the Hospital at Home program, which is a win for the industry.
• The home health industry: The bill doesn't freeze or remedy an impending Medicare payment cut for home health, but it does require CMS to release information on how it calculated the cut.

And regardless of where you fall, we all get a participation medal, at least according to Sen. Ron Wyden.

• "You can question was this change or that appropriate,” Wyden said in the Senate halls last night. “The reality is, this is significant headway compared to the status quo.”

Covering health policy doesn't always have to be 100% serious. So we're sitting down for some fun Q&A's with health care policy wonks around town.

• Peter's debut guest is Adam Buckalew, better known as "Buck," founder of strategic advisory firm Alb Solutions and a former staffer for Senate HELP and House E&C Republicans.

Go-to lunch spot on the Hill? Junction.

Best celeb sighting on the Hill? I was there when Michael Phelps testified at Energy and Commerce ... We all got pictures with him.

What's the latest you ever stayed at the office? For repeal and replace, we had a 27-hour and 27-minute markup, so it was all the way through the night ...

• Did not leave. Got there to gavel in for the markup and left at like 3 o'clock in the afternoon the next day.
• And the White House asked for a meeting at 3:30, so we did a conference call after being up all night to talk about the next steps. I took that call walking the dog with a coffee cup full of red wine.

Favorite bar on the Hill, and what do you order there? I drink wine so ... the classic is Bullfeathers ... But if I want to actually go drink wine with somebody I like to go to The Eastern. They have a good selection.

Cups or Longworth Dunkin? Cups. Interned in the Senate, ended in the Senate. It's the best on the Hill.

What's a good TV show you watched lately? I really like "White Lotus."

What's an under-noticed issue in health care? Very few understand the complexities of employer-sponsored health insurance. I think it's under-appreciated.

Best health care negotiator? Larry Bucshon. Strongly held views but knows how to compromise ... He knows where both Democratic and Republican members are and works towards a pragmatic outcome.

Do you want to be our next guest? Email us! This one was at Ted's Bulletin, but we can change it up as well.