In the News

View

Venn Grows Health Team with Addition of Key HHS Official

Venn Strategies, LLC, a leading national public affairs and government relations firm, announced today that Elizabeth Lee has joined the firm as a Principal. Lee brings to Venn the benefit of her years of top-level experience in the public health sector, having most recently served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and, before that, as a member of the Legislative Affairs team at the Department of Health and Human Services.

View More

Former Gillespie Policy Director Joins Venn

FORMER GILLESPIE POLICY DIRECTOR JOINS VENN: Brian Robertson, who served as policy director for Republican Ed Gillespie’s Senate campaign against Sen. Mark Warner in Virginia, has been hired by Venn Strategies as a vice president. Robertson will be working on economic policy and messaging related to tax and retirement security, according to a statement from the firm. Before Gillespie’s campaign, Robertson served as senior policy adviser for the Joint Economic Committee.

View More on Politico

Penny Lee on the DC Olympics Bid

Washington 2024 is putting the finishing touches this week on its proposal to the United States Olympic Committee, which is due Dec. 1.

View More

Penny Lee of Venn Strategies on Here & Now

The View From A Democratic And Republican Strategist. Republicans won control of Congress in last night’s midterm elections. Two political strategists – one from each party – join us to discuss the results.

View More on Here & Now

Venn Growing by Leaps and Bounds

VENN AND MONUMENT ALSO GROWING BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS: In our spreadsheet on Wednesday, we reported that six firms in our random and arbitrary sample were growing by more than double digits. We missed two in our own tabulation: Monument Policy Group and Venn Strategies also are on pace for a growth rate greater than 10 percent under our calculations.

View More on Politico

More Sunshine on 340B Good for Patients | Commentary

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).

View More on Roll Call

Studies show Alarming Trend

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.

View More on The Hill

Hospitals Finding Revenues with 340B

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.

View More on NPR

Charity Care Strayed Too Far

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.

View More on The Hill

Wyden Urges a Closer Look at Passthrough Businesses During Debate on Tax Overhaul

Likely Impact March 14 (BNA) — How to treat small businesses is a big question for lawmakers seeking to overhaul the U.S. tax code—and one that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) says isn’t getting enough attention.

View More

Venn Strategies gets Mongolia contract

The government of Mongolia has hired Venn Strategies on a lobbying contract. Venn will work on “government and public affairs services,” according to the filing with the Department of Justice. Specifically, they’ll “educate key stakeholders regarding opportunities for trade and investment in/with Mongolia.” Venn will be paid $45,000 per month for the yearlong contract — plus an additional $5,000 for expenses.

View More on Politico

Veteran Aide Brings Bit of Wisconsin to Venn Strategies | Hill Climber

After working in virtually every capacity for Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., including stints as chief of staff, campaign strategist and policy analyst, Erik Olson has moved to Venn Strategies, a full-service public affairs and government relations firm where he hopes to develop the same deep relationships with his clients as those that helped define his years on Capitol Hill.

View More on Roll Call