Key Committee Chair Rep. Joe Pitts to Retire in 2016

by admin | November 10, 2015 1:50 pm

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[1], the subcommittee held Congress’s first hearing specifically about 340B since December 2005[2]. He said at the session that 340B’s rules were unclear and the program needed “greater oversight and transparency.” Four months earlier[3] during a hearing on Medicare and Medicaid spending, he questioned whether 340B was due for “a complete re-evaluation.”

In March 2012[4], 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[5], 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[6], 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]

Source URL: https://340bemployed.org/key-committee-chair-rep-joe-pitts-to-retire-in-2016/

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