Podesta Group

Challenge: Two of the nation’s largest health care companies came to the Podesta Group seeking assistance in pushing back on a provision in the health care reform bill that sought to sweep separately bundled end stage renal disease (ESRD) drugs, or dialysis drugs, into the bundled payment under Medicare. This task was made more difficult by having to work around a formidable member of the House Ways and Means Committee who opposed our clients’ position.

Strategy: Devise and execute a legislative and regulatory strategy that called upon key congressional caucuses to push the US Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to not include these dialysis drugs in the bundled payment.

Result: We were successful in preventing the provision from being included in the new health care law and the proposed regulation was “turned back” to the position favored by our clients.