HDMA PRESENTS RX SAFETY AND HEALTHCARE LEADERSHIP AWARD TO
SENATOR PAT ROBERTS (R-KAN.)

Award Honors Public Officials Who Advocate for a Safe and Efficient Healthcare Supply Chain

From left: Rita Norton, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, AmerisourceBergen Corporation; Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.); and, HDMA President and CEO John M. Gray.

ARLINGTON, Va., December 7, 2011 – The Healthcare Distribution Management Association (HDMA) yesterday honored Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) with its Rx Safety and Healthcare Leadership Award. The award recognizes public officials for their leadership and commitment to public policies that support and promote the safe and efficient delivery of lifesaving medicines to patients nationwide.

“Senator Roberts understands and recognizes the need to ensure the continued safety and efficiency of our nation’s healthcare supply chain — and the important role HDMA distributors play in it,” said HDMA President and CEO John M. Gray. “We commend his support of policies that lead to more accessible, more affordable healthcare for Americans nationwide.”

Senator Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance, is a longtime advocate of policies that enhance the safety and efficiency of the healthcare supply chain, particularly in the area of prescription drug reimbursement. Along with Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Roberts is a primary sponsor of bipartisan legislation — S. 733 — to correct the treatment of prompt pay discounts under the Medicare Part B Average Sales Price (ASP) reimbursement metric for prescription drugs and biologics. The legislation would enhance patient access to these medications and increase supply chain efficiencies that distributors provide to the healthcare system when serving physicians who participate in the Part B program.

HDMA presents the Rx Safety and Healthcare Leadership Award to honor and recognize federal and state public officials who:

• Introduce, support or author legislation, regulations or policies and champion technologies that further enhance supply chain security, patient safety, business efficiencies and defend the industry against policies that could compromise these or are otherwise harmful to the supply chain.
• Support fair and accurate reimbursement policies that ensure continuous patient access to lifesaving medicines at their pharmacy, physician’s office or other healthcare provider.
• Continually promote constructive discussion and ongoing collaboration between supply chain partners and government and endeavor to learn about the distribution industry through meetings, appearances, tours and other events.
  

The most recent Rx Safety and Healthcare Leadership Award honoree was Congressman Gene Green (D-Texas), who is a co-sponsor of the companion House legislation to Roberts’ bill, H.R. 905.

Further information is available on HDMA’s website, www.HealthcareDistribution.org.

About HDMA
HDMA is the national association representing primary healthcare distributors, the vital link in the healthcare system. Each business day, HDMA member companies ensure that nearly nine million prescription medicines and healthcare products are delivered safely and efficiently to nearly 200,000 pharmacies, hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and others nationwide. HDMA and its members work daily to provide value and contain costs, saving the nation’s healthcare system an estimated $32 billion per year.