Articles by : Tom Mirga, Editor at Large

Health Centers Scramble to Secure a Freeze on 340B Insulin Rule

January 21, 2021 Tom Mirga, Editor at Large Views

The Biden administration caught health center leaders off guard by not explicitly instructing HHS's new leadership to put a Trump administration 340B-related rule on ice. | Source: Shutterstock

Community health center leaders are concerned that the Biden administration yesterday asked, but did not order, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) to postpone tomorrow’s scheduled implementation of a controversial Trump administration final rule that will require health

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House E&C Leaders Announce Leadership Team and New Committee Members

January 21, 2021 Tom Mirga, Editor at Large Views

U.S. House Energy & Commerce party leaders recently announced new committee members.

U.S. House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) last Friday formally announced Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) as Health subcommittee chair and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) as leader of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee.

Eshoo, who is based

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Gilead Adjusts Planned Change in its Patient Assistance After HIV Community Pushes Back

January 19, 2021 Tom Mirga, Editor at Large Views

NASTAD and others in the HIV community said they raised their concerns with Gilead about its planned change to its patient assistance program, and the company appears to have listened. | Source: Shutterstock

Drug manufacturer Gilead has altered a planned change to its patient assistance program (PAP) for uninsured people living with HIV that would have been unworkable for some vulnerable patients, HIV/AIDS caregivers and activists say. The change also would have deprived

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HHS Asks Court to Toss Out Hospitals’ 340B Contract Pharmacy Lawsuit

January 19, 2021 Tom Mirga, Editor at Large Views

The lawsuit against HHS by 340B hospitals is just one of several underway over drug manufacturers’ denials of 340B pricing on drugs dispensed by contract pharmacies. | Source: Shutterstock

Outgoing U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar last week asked a federal district judge to dismiss a lawsuit against him and his department by 340B hospitals over HHS’s enforcement of its 340B contract pharmacy requirements for drug

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Senate Finance Report Might Shed Light on Insulin Manufacturers’ 340B Contract Pharmacy Actions

January 19, 2021 Tom Mirga, Editor at Large Views

HHS has for the second time delayed the effective date of a Trump administration rule to require health centers to provide insulin and injectable epinephrine to low-income patients at the price the centers pay for those drugs under the 340B program. The new date is July 20. | Shutterstock

U.S. insulin manufacturer and pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) business practices “have created a vicious cycle of price increases that have sent costs for patients and taxpayers through the roof,” U.S. Senate Finance Committee leaders Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden

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Azar and Verma Touch on 340B in Valedictory Remarks

January 19, 2021 Tom Mirga, Editor at Large Views

Outgoing HHS Secretary Alex Azar (left) and CMS Administrator Seema Verma touched on 340B in farewell remarks.| Source: C-SPAN

Outgoing U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma both referred to 340B—obliquely in Azar’s case, directly in Verma’s—in recent farewell remarks.

In an interview with Modern Healthcare

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340B Stakeholders Reconsider Campaign Contributions in Wake of Capitol Riot

January 19, 2021 Tom Mirga, Editor at Large Views

Businesses and groups involved in 340B are reconsidering their political donations following a pro-Trump mob's assault on the U.S. Capitol. | Source: Shutterstock

National health care organizations and businesses with major stakes in the 340B program have suspended political contributions following a pro-Trump mob’s Jan. 6 violent attack on Congress to stop it from counting and certifying the Electoral College’s votes for president.

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Health Centers File 340B Dispute Resolution Petitions Against Drug Manufacturers

January 14, 2021 Tom Mirga, Editor at Large Views

The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) last night on its members’ behalf asked a new federal 340B program administrative dispute resolution (ADR) panel to order drug manufacturers Eli Lilly and Co., Sanofi, and AstraZeneca to lift all “qualifications,

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Lilly Asks Court to Shield it From “Crippling” 340B Sanctions

January 14, 2021 Tom Mirga, Editor at Large Views

Drug manufacturer Eli Lilly and Co. told a court this week that HHS has placed it in the "untenable position of offering 340B discounts that are not required by the statute or else facing crippling financial sanctions." | Source: Shutterstock

340B program stakeholders are still digesting drug manufacturers AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Co., and Sanofi’s Jan. 12 lawsuits to block federal sanctions over their decisions to stop or impose conditions on 340B discounts on drugs dispensed by contract pharmacies.

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Nevada ADAP Postpones Controversial 340B Policy Change

January 14, 2021 Tom Mirga, Editor at Large Views

Nevada’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) on Tuesday postponed “through April 1, 2021, if not longer,” a 340B program policy change strongly opposed by the state’s Ryan White CARES Act grantees.

The state health department’s Division of Public and

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