On December 24, the Senate passed H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) along party lines by a vote of 60-39. The bill included numerous provisions of interest to device manufacturers including the imposition of an annual fee, disclosure of financial relations and other provisions. Of notable interest, the Senate bill included a slightly modified version of the device fee. Specifically, the device fee included in the Senate bill will total $20 billion over 10...
Health Care Reform, Device Tax
12/10/2009
With mounting opposition on both sides of the aisle to the “public option” in the Senate delayed its debate this week to rework the legislation to include an alternative plan to the public option that would likely allow uninsured to buy into the Medicare program. MDMA is working closely with Senate staff to improve the device related provisions, including the device tax. While MDMA opposes the imposition of a new tax on the industry, it is becoming less likely that the tax will be excluded...
11/19/2009
Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) released the Senate health care reform legislation this week. The bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is the combined product of two previous committee bills from the Finance and HELP Committees. Among other device related provisions, the bill includes a $20 billion tax on the medical device industry. The tax would be non-deductible and would be effective beginning in 2010.
11/09/2009
Late Saturday evening, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act by a vote of 220-215. Still included in the bill was a 2.5% tax on manufacturers and importers of medical devices, as well as provisions related to payment disclosure and comparative effectiveness. The Senate has yet to released it's final version of health reform legislation.
10/19/2009
MDMA Board Members Rob Kieval, Founder of CVRx, and Howard Root, President of Vascular Solutions, testified at the Congressional Field Hearing in Minneapolis on the proposed tax on medical devices in health care reform legislation. The hearing, chaired by Congressman Erik Paulsen (R-MN), focused on the impact the tax would have on innovation and job creation in the area.
10/09/2009
MDMA Board Unanimously Opposes Medical Device Tax
Patient Care, Innovation, Investment and Jobs Will Suffer
03/13/2009
Officials in Massachusetts gave final approval to a law which creates a new code of conduct governing interactions between healthcare practitioners and drug and device manufacturers.
The law places new regulations on the physician-manufacturer relationship by requiring disclosure on financial arrangements and limiting most forms of gifts. The regulations take effect July 1 of this year and the first company disclosure reports will be due on July 1,...
02/27/2009
The President this week highlighted the need to reform the health care system in his first address to a joint session of Congress. In addition, the President also released his 2010 budget this week, which includes substantial increases in health care spending. Citing the need to provide health care coverage to every American, the President outlined a plan to reduce spending and increase tax revenues. Areas the President seeks to address related to health...
02/13/2009
The economic stimulus package has passed both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Conferees from the two bodies have come to an agreement on a final legislation and the legislation appears to be heading towards final passage. The legislation includes $1.1 billion in appropriations to fund comparative effectiveness research through the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality and the National Institutes of Health. Early drafts of the legislation included references to cost...
01/01/2009
On January 8th at 2pm ET, MDMA will host a Member wide call to discuss the proposed regulations issued by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health creating a new state Code and disclosure of physician payments for companies that “participate in a commonwealth health care program.”
