November 10, 2015—Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), the chairman of the House subcommittee with primary jurisdiction over the 340B program, is retiring from Congress when his current term ends in 2016. [ms-protect-content id=”2799″]
Rep. Pitts announced on Nov. 6 that he would not seek reelection next year. He has chaired the Energy & Commerce Health subcommittee since 2011. Under his leadership last March, the subcommittee held Congress’s first hearing specifically about 340B since December 2005. He said at the session that 340B’s rules were unclear and the program needed “greater oversight and transparency.” Four months earlier during a hearing on Medicare and Medicaid spending, he questioned whether 340B was due for “a complete re-evaluation.”
In March 2012, Rep. Pitts and three Republican Senators asked the hospital group 340B Health, the 340B prime vendor Apexus, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization for a wide range of documents about their involvement in the 340B program. Four months later, he and then Rep. (now Sen.) Bill Cassidy (R-La.) asked the head of the Health Resources and Services Administration in a letter to update 340B definition of patient in order to curb “any misuse of the program.” In February 2013, Reps. Pitts and Cassidy and Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) sent HRSA a letter seeking details about its audits and recertification of 340B covered entities. [/ms-protect-content]