Congress kicks off 2015 with bipartisan, bicameral collaboration
By Linda Rouse O’Neill
You’re probably used to hearing on the news all the ways that Congress is unable to work together and make progress toward legislative goals. On healthcare, however, the 114th Congress has started the year on a positive note, introducing bills with input from both sides of the aisle, and both sides of the Capitol, that include provisions affecting medical products distributors.
HIDA has been right in the middle of these discussions, but the process is far from over. The key is getting meaningful legislation passed this year before Congress becomes even more political with a shift in focus to the 2016 presidential election.
Medical device tax repeal gets serious
In early January, HIDA and its industry partners sent a coalition letter to House and Senate leadership urging an immediate repeal of the 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices. Although the tax is estimated to collect approximately $25 billion in revenues, the letter cited adverse impacts on patient care and innovation, and compromised patient access to cutting-edge medical technologies as primary reasons for repeal.
The letter was sent as support to the repeal efforts in the House and Senate — the House bipartisan repeal bill has garnered more than 260 cosponsors and the Senate reintroduced its version of bipartisan legislation to repeal the tax in late January. HIDA and its constituents applaud the broad congressional support and collaborative effort to repeal this tax, which recent surveys estimate could end up costing the U.S. economy at least 195,000 jobs.
21st Century Cures bill includes important medical device language
In another significant development for distributor sales reps, the House Energy and Commerce Committee recently released a draft version of its 21st Century Cures bill. The bill includes several forward looking proposals to improve the FDA’s medical device review process, healthcare IT, and biomedical innovation.
The bill also includes language secured by HIDA that standardizes licensure requirements for all medical device wholesale distributors and implements uniform licensing criteria across all 50 states to strengthen the supply chain. This is substantial progress for distributors, because it will ultimately do away with a confusing patchwork of state licensure requirements and provide a uniform, secure way of doing business in multiple states.
The committee is currently looking for industry stakeholder feedback as it finalizes the bill, and we will be keeping a close eye on any further developments as they occur. As always, if you or your customers have additional questions about licensure requirements or the medical device tax, please contact us at HIDAGovAffairs@HIDA.org.