Senate panel holds third hearing on cost of prescription drugs

The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee today held the third in a series of bipartisan hearings on how to make prescription drugs more affordable, which focused on recent recommendations from a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report. In a statement submitted to the committee in June, AHA urged Congress and the administration to address the rising cost of drugs, and offered specific recommendations to increase competition, innovation and transparency, promote payment for value, improve access and align incentives. In her opening remarks at today’s hearing, Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) criticized the administration for reducing Medicare payments for hospital outpatient drugs under the 340B drug savings program by nearly 30% effective Jan. 1. “Not only will this do absolutely nothing to combat high drug prices, it will result in less funding for safety net providers to provide critical services to low-income and vulnerable patients,” she said. Last month, AHA joined by the Association of American Medical Colleges and America’s Essential Hospitals filed a federal lawsuit to prevent the payment cut.