Podcast — Drug Pricing: How Are Payers Responding to the IRA?
Podcast: IP(DC): Drug Prices, Political Pressures & Patents
Some commentators are expecting that further details regarding the so-called most favored nation (MFN) pricing policy will be released in the coming days, while other sources indicate that no further information beyond a...more
On April 15, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published the Contract Year 2026 Policy and Technical Changes Final Rule which amends the regulations governing various Medicare programs, including the...more
Heading into the new year, a Trump-Vance administration will control the White House and the Republicans will hold a narrow majority in both the House and Senate. This control trifecta is likely to impact both legislative and...more
On October 2, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued final guidance for initial price applicability year (IPAY) 2027 of the Drug Price Negotiation Program established by the Inflation Reduction Act...more
On August 15, 2024, CMS announced the results of the first round of the negotiated prices between CMS and participating drug manufacturers for the 10 selected drugs under the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Medicare Drug...more
On December 14, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published two “revised” guidance documents implementing the Medicare Part B and Part D inflation rebate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of...more
The ability to directly negotiate drug prices has been a policy goal for Democrats for many years and was recently accomplished through the Inflation Reduction Act’s (“IRA”) Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program (the...more
Although most of the recent focus around the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) by the press and industry stakeholders has been on the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, the IRA has several other...more
In 2024, Medicare will, for the first time, have authority under the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022 to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers. On August 29, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid...more
While only slightly past the midway point of 2023, it has already been a busy year for developments in drug pricing. Notably, CMS released its final guidance in preparation for price negotiations and the first 10 drugs...more
This month, pharmaceutical manufacturer, Merck & Co., Inc. (“Merck”), as well as four chambers of commerce, have filed suits against the federal government, arguing that the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program introduced...more
The Inflation Reduction Act (the “IRA”) requires drug manufacturers to pay rebates to Medicare when the prices of their Part B and Part D prescription drug increase faster than the rate of inflation. We recently discussed the...more
Pharmaceutical manufacturers are challenging the breadth of the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) in federal court, arguing that the government is harming the very vulnerable patients it aims to serve by prohibiting...more
States remain at the forefront of legislative efforts on a range of issues relating to drug pricing, such as increasing price transparency, capping out-of-pocket costs for insulin, and limiting certain PBM practices. These...more
Now that we have had the chance to read and meditate on the historic Medicaid waiver approved on Friday January 8th, giving Tennessee permission from the Federal government to fundamentally alter Medicaid’s traditional...more
On November 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) finalized a rule to take effect in 2022, which eliminates the safe harbor under the federal anti-kickback statute for manufacturer rebates to Medicare...more
On 20 November 2020, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released its final rule on drug rebates entitled “Removal Of Safe Harbor Protection For Rebates...more
On November 20, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a Final Rule to finalize a February 6, 2019 proposal stripping rebates received from drug manufacturers by...more
On September 23, 2020, the Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) publicly released Advisory Opinion 20-05 (AO 20-05), a significant, adverse opinion rejecting a...more
On March 11, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a voluntary model within the Medicare Part D program that would allow certain Part D plans to cap Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket costs for...more
[co-authors: Sean Feely, Senior Public Policy Specialist and Julie E. Nolan, Senior Policy Advisor] • On September 19, Speaker Pelosi released a drug pricing plan that includes proposals for Medicare direct price...more
In a rare act of bipartisanship, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced on July 23rd a chairman’s mark, the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act (PDPRA)...more
The pharmaceutical industry invests billions in research and development. And as a result, the pharmaceutical industry has brought—and continues to bring—beneficial, life-saving, life-prolonging, life-enhancing, and...more
On February 6, 2019, the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (the “OIG”) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule (the “Proposed Rule”) that, if made final in its...more
On January 31, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a proposed rule (“Proposed Rule”) that would restrict safe harbor protection under the federal Anti-Kickback...more