Will Congress Pass PBM Legislation This Year? It Is 'Highly Likely,' Says Patrick Cooney | PBMI 2024
Patrick Cooney, president of The Federal Group, a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm says prospects for legislation passing this year, albeit during the post-election lameduck session, are good partly because the PBM legislation would produce Medicare savings that could be put toward other uses.
Congress has been considering legislation that would increase transparency into pharmacy benefit management (PBM) contracts and ban certain PBM practices, such as spread pricing.
Patrick Cooney, president of The Federal Group, a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm, said in an interview conducted at the 2024 PBMI Annual National Conference that it is "highly likely that PBM legislation will get across the finish line," partly because provisions of the current bills will save Medicare money.
Cooney said that the Federal Trade Commission interim report on PBMs that came out in July is "galvanizing action as well" and that the Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, chair of the Senate Finance Committee "spoke very vehemently after the report came out that he was fully committed to getting something done quickly."
Cooney noted that Congress will be session for about three weeks before the Nov. 5 election, but it is unlikely that will any PBM legislation will pass before the election, but that still leaves the lameduck session after the election for legislation to get through the House and the Senate and eventually on to the president's desk for signing.
Cooney, who is a consultant to Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute, spoke at session of the conference on Wednesday that focused on poiicy and politics.
In this episode of the "Meet the Board" podcast series, Briana Contreras, Managed Healthcare Executive editor, speaks with Ateev Mehrotra, a member of the MHE editorial advisory board and a professor of healthcare policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School. Mehtrotra is also a hospitalist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. In the discussion, Contreras gets to know Mehrotra more on a personal level and picks his brain on some of his research interests including telehealth, alternative payment models and price transparency.
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Group Purchasing Organizations of 'Big 3' PBMs Cloud Transparency, Says Critic | PBMI 2024
September 6th 2024Greg Baker, CEO of AffirmedRx, did not hold back in criticizing CVS Caremark, Optum Rx and Express Scripts and their group purchasing organizations today at the PBMI Annual National Conference.
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