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 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
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
In recent remarks prepared for delivery to the White House roundtable on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan made clear that the FTC’s investigation into PBM practices continues....more
Despite a busy 2022, drug pricing remains a hot topic at the federal and state levels, with a number of recent developments and trends worth monitoring heading into 2023. In the past year, the FTC increasingly focused on the...more
Latham's Government Price Reporting Team covers general developments, the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, the 340B Drug Pricing Program, Medicare Part B, and state law developments. ...more
Federal efforts on drug pricing are increasingly focusing on the role of pharmacy benefit manager middlemen. A recently proposed Senate bill seeks to eliminate certain PBM practices, such as spread pricing and unfair claw...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
[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 25, 2019 the Senate Finance Committee voted to advance their long-awaited drug pricing package to the Senate floor (we anticipate a Floor vote sometime this Fall). The Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act (PDPRA)...more
On July 22, 2019, the Massachusetts House of Representatives (“House”) and Senate Conference Committee (“Conference Committee”) released the Commonwealth’s $43.1 billion fiscal year 2020 budget bill (“H. 4000”). It passed the...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
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 23, 2019, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker revealed his fiscal year 2020 budget for the Commonwealth of $42.7 billion. While the budget contains a number of new initiatives, one new initiative is particularly...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
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
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
Notwithstanding the enactment of a first-in-the-nation drug spending cap last year, in light of the $4.4 billion deficit and ongoing concerns about the opioid crisis it was inevitable that this year New York State would once...more
After much anticipation, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) late last week released its 340B Drug Pricing Program Omnibus Guidance Proposal (the Proposal). HRSA indicates that its goal in issuing the...more