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
On August 1, 2025, the Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”) issued a Notice announcing the launch of the 340B Rebate Model Pilot Program (“Pilot Program”), that would dramatically change the way in which...more
On July 31, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it will conduct a pilot program testing out a rebate model for 340B drug purchases. Under the program, drug manufacturers will be allowed...more
On July 31, 2025, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) issued a 340B Drug Pricing Program notice (the “Notice”) announcing the launch of a voluntary 340B rebate model pilot...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
The 340B Program has continued to undergo significant upheaval in 2024 that has the potential to bring about impactful changes to how the 340B Program operates moving forward. These developments have left 340B stakeholders in...more
On September 5, 2023, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) published its report titled Medicare Part D: CMS Should Monitor Effects of Rebates on Plan Formularies and Beneficiary Spending.The report...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
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
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
[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
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
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
Following a truncated August recess, the House and the Senate returned to Washington after Labor Day with a full plate of legislative items to address prior to the end of the fiscal year on September 30. That list includes...more
Why are prescription drug prices so high in the U.S.? While this question can hardly be considered a new topic in American healthcare, the recent clash of words between the Trump Administration and Democratic Senators has...more
In the midst of the ongoing federal conversation surrounding the 340B Drug Pricing Program, individual states are implementing a number of regulatory efforts related to the 340B Program at an increasingly fast pace. These...more
For the first time since the enactment of the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program (MDRP), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) revised the National Medicaid Drug Rebate Agreement (NDRA) entered into between drug...more