Health Care Reform Becomes Law – HP&M Issues Summary of Drug and Device Provisions

By Alan M. Kirschenbaum & Kurt R. Karst –

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”) (Pub. L. No. 111-148 ).  A companion bill, the Health Care Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872), which the House of Representatives passed (along with PPACA) on March 21st, is currently under consideration by the Senate, and contains amendments to PPACA that reconcile the Senate and House versions of the legislation.

Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C. has prepared a memorandum – available here – that focuses on the provisions that most directly affect pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers.  In light of the importance of this legislation, we have prepared this memorandum despite the fact that the Senate has not yet passed the companion bill, H.R. 4872.  The HP&M memorandum describes provisions of PPACA as it will be amended by H.R. 4872 if the latter passes the Senate in current form.  It is possible, though unlikely, that provisions of H.R. 4872 described in the memorandum will be amended in the Senate.  In that event, we will post an update describing the pertinent changes.

UPDATE:

Our original memorandum on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act posted on Wednesday evening (March 24) was updated on Thursday morning (March 25) to correct an error on page 8 (excise tax on devices).  We apologize for any confusion.