Public policy and government relations

The following are our current priority issues for active engagement

  • Support legislative and regulatory approaches that recognize the quality and economic benefits of group purchasing organizations (GPOs) for community hospitals, integrated delivery networks, academic medical centers and a wide range of non-acute health care providers
  • Vizient supports maintaining the safe harbor/statutory exemption for GPOs, ensuring that we can continue to function effectively to deliver savings to our members
  • Click here to learn more about Vizient's supply chain assurance advocacy.

Learn more about GPOs

  • Support practical policies that appropriately align incentives to improve quality in health care delivery while simultaneously working to reduce regulatory burdens on health care providers
  • Actively engage with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and other federal agencies and entities to improve efforts to transition to a value-based health care delivery system
  • Work with CMS to improve the Hospital Compare overall hospital rating to ensure that they consistently and accurately reflect quality – and importantly, that they also provide clarity for patients, as well as provide feedback for hospitals on actionable steps that can be taken to improve their quality performance
  • Support improvements to and alignments within existing CMS value-based programs, such as the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program, Hospital Readmissions and Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Programs, bundled payments, and other efforts intended to improve quality through delivery system reforms

340B Drug Pricing Program

  • Protect hospitals’ ability to continue to purchase prescription drugs through the 340B program so that they are able to stretch scarce resources to support vital, comprehensive health care services for patients and communities in need

Prescription drug shortages

  • Monitor ongoing challenges with prescription drug shortages, while advocating for and seeking policy solutions that provide stability in the marketplace to ensure consistent availability of needed prescription drugs for hospitals
  • Engage with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Task Force on Drug Shortages to share critical information from our member hospitals regarding drugs in shortage and collaborate on ways to mitigate shortage situations

Prescription drug pricing

  • Advocate for legislative and regulatory solutions to address unintended consequences arising from the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Unapproved Drug Initiative (UDI). While the UDI encouraged approval of legacy drugs, prices for these drugs spiked and competition lagged. Although in December 2020, efforts were made by HHS to terminate the UDI, in May 2021, FDA and HHS reversed course and indicated new guidance related to UDI would be issued. In anticipation of potential changes to UDI, Vizient has:

Biosimilars

  • Support the FDA’s efforts to expand approvals of biosimilar competition and dismantle barriers that prevent widespread adoption and utilization of biosimilars for patients and providers
  • Advocate for legislation that enhances information regarding biologic interchangeability and patents in the Purple Book, preventing the excessive use of patents or “patent thickets” to delay entry of competition in the marketplace

  • Urge the postponement or repeal of the scheduled cuts to the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments
  • Protect and promote proper Medicare reimbursements to hospitals including advocating against damaging site-neutral payment policies

  • Assist Vizient members in communicating to the public and the government the community benefits and charity care they provide, with a goal being to ensure that not-for-profit hospitals retain their tax-exempt status

  • Promote federal policies and legislation designed to address the shortage of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals