340B Congressional Rescue In Trouble; Court Ruling Expected Soon

A federal judge is expected to rule soon on a preliminary injunction to prevent HHS from cutting Medicare payments for drugs acquired under the 340B program, which is scheduled to take effect January 1. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras heard arguments on December 21 from both sides in the hospital lawsuit (click here to see the suit).  He actively questioned both sides about technical legal issues and about the Congressional intent behind the 340B program. Both sides also were asked about whether the HHS secretary had sufficient authority to make the 28.5 percent cut to Medicare payments to offset savings from the 340B program for the affected hospitals.  There was discussion about the harm that would hit hospitals if the rule were permitted to go into effect, and suggestions that it might be preferable to prevent the rule from taking effect rather than undoing it at a later date. 

• A growing number of key congressional Republicans are now raising questions about any type of a 340B regulatory moratorium without the imposition of new transparency and reporting requirements. A new drug company-backed bill was introduced last week (click here) by Reps. Larry Bucshon (R-IN) and Scott Peters (D-CA) that would do just that. Click here for Rep. Bucshon's statement.
• Rep. McKinley's (R-WV) bill that only imposes a one-year moratorium on all 340B regs from CMS gained nearly 20 new cosponsors in the past week (now 165). Click here for the updated list.

Hospitals are expected to continue pushing for the regulatory moratorium in January if the court rules against the request for injunctive relief.