Letter Bemoans Government-Issued Guidance that Fails to Incentivize Utilization of Non-Opioid Approaches

Addiction prevention coalition Voices for Non-Opioid Choices has retained political and public affairs shop Venn Strategies to handle health issues on Capitol Hill.

In 2016, of the 115 Americans who died each day from an opioid overdose, nearly half were using prescription opioid medications. Studies have estimated that just a 10% reduction in surgery-related opioid prescribing in the U.S. would result in 300,000 fewer people each year transitioning to long-term use and make 332 million fewer opioid pills available for potential diversion and misuse.

Venn Strategies, LLC, a leading national public affairs and government relations firm, announced several key hires today, including incoming Vice President JoHannah Torkelson and new Senior Associate Michelle Seger.

Venn Strategies, LLC, a leading national public affairs and government relations firm, announced today that Michael Spira has joined the firm as a Vice President. Spira brings more than fifteen years of political and policy experience, having most recently served as a senior lobbyist at the American Pharmacist Association.  He was previously Chief of Staff for former Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Deputy Chief of Staff for Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-CO).

In his recent opinion piece, Ascension Health CEO Robert Henkel pleads with Congress not to tinker with the 340B Drug Discount Program (“Placing the Health and Well Being of Patients First”, Roll Call, July 16). The program was created in 1992 to benefit medically underserved patients in the outpatient setting, but it has grown into a lucrative opportunity for many disproportionate share hospitals (DSH).

A study released last week by the Berkeley Research Group (BRG) draws a troubling picture of how the 340B drug discount program – created to ensure that medically underserved patients have access to hospital outpatient drugs – not only is benefiting hospitals more than the patients themselves, but in fact may also be driving some hospitals to make business decisions solely in the interest of maximizing financial returns. Both Congress and regulators have an opportunity to put the program back on the right track.

In 1992, the federal government told drugmakers they had to give steep discounts to hospitals that treat a large percentage of poor patients.

The law got bipartisan support and it was a boon for hospitals and the federal government. In the decades that followed, the discount program has grown by leaps and bounds.

More than two decades after Congress formally established the 340B program to ensure that vulnerable and uninsured patients would have access to prescription medicines, it is increasingly clear that needy patients are not always the ones reaping the benefits of this important program.

Current methods for estimating the costs and savings of federal health legislation miss billions of dollars in potential long-term returns from effective obesity prevention policies, according to a new study released today by the Campaign to End Obesity. Changing the way cost estimates are created would give policymakers a clearer picture of costs and savings, the report concludes.

The Campaign to End Obesity is applauding legislation introduced by House Ways and Means Committee Democrat Ron Kind that includes a wide range of policies that aim to tackle the obesity epidemic. Kind’s Healthy Choices Act aims to improve prevention and treatment opportunities, increase access to physical activities for adults and children, expand nutrition training and realign transportation policies to promote healthier lifestyle, and support research.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) plans to focus on the implementation of its new pharmacovigilance legislation and the pending falsified drug legislation throughout 2011, according to its work program announcement on Feb. 11, 2011.