Part Two: The MFN Drug Pricing Rule and the Rebate Rule: Where Do We Go From Here?
Part One: Two new Medicare Drug Pricing Rules in One Day: What are the MFN and the Rebate Drug Pricing Rules?
Drug Pricing Initiatives During the Trump Presidency
Key Takeaways - HRSA’s 340B rebate pilot shifts financial and operational burden to covered entities, requiring upfront drug purchases with delayed, uncertain rebate recovery....more
In a May 15, 2025, opinion, Judge Dabney Friedrich of the US District Court for the District of Columbia denied drugmakers’ motions for summary judgment against the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Health...more
On September 26, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule implementing changes to the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program (MDRP). While not the focus of the agency’s rulemaking, stakeholders...more
The following is a summary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports of fraud and abuse enforcement activity across the country. The enforcement actions reported are...more
On November 30, 2020, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a final rule (“Final Rule”) that makes significant changes to the federal Antikickback Statute...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
On July 11, 2019, the Trump administration announced it would withdraw a proposed rule that would eliminate the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) safe harbor that protected rebates made from pharmaceutical manufacturers to pharmacy...more
Below is this week’s “Capitol Hill Healthcare Update,” which is posted on Mondays when Congress is in session. GRASSLEY CONFIRMS DELAY ON DRUG BILL WHILE ANOTHER COMMITTEE PLANS VOTES - Senate Finance Committee Chairman...more
President Trump on Thursday signed into law the most extensive set of amendments to the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program statute since the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The new law addresses the perception that drug manufacturers...more
The Trump Administration’s latest effort to limit the power of pharmacy benefit managers (“PBMs”) is marred by economic uncertainty and looming legal scrutiny. The Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) within the Department of...more
Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) published a proposed rule (“Proposed Rule”) in the Federal Register to amend the federal anti-kickback statute safe harbor...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 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) issued a long-awaited proposed rule (the “Proposed Rule”) which, if finalized, would modify the discount safe harbor under the federal Anti-Kickback...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
The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (“OIG”) released a proposed rule to eliminate safe harbor protection under the anti-kickback statute for drug price reductions that pharmaceutical...more
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published a proposed rule that would make sweeping changes to the discount and rebate arrangements between drug manufacturers on the one hand and Medicare Part D plans and...more
In an effort to respond to prescription drug pricing concerns, on January 31, 2019, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a highly anticipated, 123-page...more
On Jan. 31, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a long-awaited proposed rule that would, if finalized, remove the existing legal "safe harbor" that protects...more
On January 31, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued for public display a proposed regulation that would subject certain pharmaceutical manufacturer rebates paid to...more
The Trump Administration has put out its latest prescription to try to slash out-of-control prescription drug prices: Officials want to call medication “rebates” what they say they’ve really become — “kickbacks” — and crack...more
The OIG added seven new items to its Work Plan in the May 2018 update. Among the issues addressed are emergency preparedness, the impact of generics on Medicaid drug rebates, reviews of claims for Part B outpatient cardiac...more
On Feb. 9, 2018, the Trump Administration released a 30-page report analyzing domestic and global factors influencing drug pricing. The report by the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is expected to inform the HHS' Fiscal...more
In late October, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) introduced the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2017 (S. 2011; H.R. 4138), which would allow the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)...more
On August 17, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had reached a $465 million false claims settlement with Mylan, the manufacturer of EpiPen, over the company’s alleged underpayment of Medicaid Drug...more
The latest installment in the ongoing saga over EpiPen Medicaid Drug Rebates came on May 31, 2017, when Senator Charles Grassley issued a press release stating that between 2006-2016 taxpayers may have overpaid for EpiPen by...more