HHS SECRETARY BOWEN NOMINATES JOSEPH STETLER FOR RxPRC

Executive Summary

HHS SECRETARY BOWEN NOMINATES JOSEPH STETLER FOR RxPRC membership. Currently of counsel with D.C. law firm Hyman Phelps & McNamara, the former PMA president was named as a candidate for one of 11 positions on the Prescription Drug Payment Review Commission (RxPRC). Under the Catastrophic Care Act, enacted July 1, the commission will be appointed by the Office of Technology Assessment to monitor the financial health of the newly authorized Medicare drug program. OTA hopes to select the commission by November ("The Pink Sheet" Sept. 5, p. 3). Other nominees include American Health Care Registry President Judith Willis, who was nominated by HHS Undersecretary Don Newman. Raymond Gosselin, currently executive editor of the pharmacy magazine Pharmacy Times, was nominated by William Hassan, Jr., the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences. Gosselin is former president of the pharmacy school. OTA has received slightly more than 140 nominations. The agency expects the final tally of names to be around 160.