Joseph Hill
Director, Government Relations Division, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists 

Q. How would you describe your role at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP)?
A. I serve as the Director of the Government Relations Division for ASHP. In this capacity, I oversee all of our government relations activity including Congressional, federal agencies, and state.  

Q. What do you think Council members should know about ASHP?
A. ASHP’s nearly 45,000 members are committed to providing patient care that helps patients achieve optimal health outcomes. ASHP helps its members achieve this goal by advocating and supporting the professional practice of pharmacists in hospitals, health systems, ambulatory care clinics, and other settings spanning the full spectrum of patient care. ASHP serves its members as their collective voice on issues related to medication use and public health. 

Q. What ASHP initiatives would you like to share with the Council?
A. ASHP is a lead member of the Patient Access to Pharmacists’ Care Coalition (PAPPC), a group of more than 30 organizations (including NCL) representing pharmacy, rural health care, and consumers. PAPCC is currently advocating for legislation (H.R. 592, S. 109) that would increase patient access to pharmacists’ direct patient care services in underserved areas. The bills have broad bipartisan support with more than half of the U.S. House of Representatives (240) signed on in support and nearly half of the Senate (49). The bills would allow Medicare beneficiaries to access care from pharmacists in underserved areas for services that are already allowed by state scope of practice laws. 

Q. What is ASHP doing to change the way people think about and approach healthcare?
A. Medication use has become the first line of treatment for most conditions. As a result, more people are taking more medications than ever before. While this helps to improve patient health overall, improper medication use, adverse drug reactions, and lack of patient counseling are emerging challenges that can cause patient harm, and increase costs. Pharmacists are the medication use experts and are trained to help patients make the best use of their medicines. ASHP is at the forefront of advancing the profession of pharmacy away from medication dispensers to direct patient care providers as it relates to medication use. 

Q. What does ASHP value about membership in NCL’s Health Advisory Council? 
A. ASHP shares NCL’s goal of improving the health and well-being of our nation’s consumers. We believe NCL enables ASHP to amplify its voice on the role that pharmacists play in making medication use safe and effective.  

Janet McUlsky
Senior Director, National Alliance Development, Pfizer, Inc.    

Q. What is your role at Pfizer?
A. As Senior Director of National Alliance Development at Pfizer, I have dual roles in working with the advocacy community. Together with my team, I am responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with the broad non-profit healthcare policy community in DC. Our objective is to work together on policy issues that are important to all parties while always maintaining our respective independence and integrity. Of equal importance is the role we play in taking patient concerns to Pfizer colleagues and encouraging and assisting them in developing programmatic responses.

Q. What do you think Council Members should know about Pfizer? 
A. Pfizer has a rich history as a transformative innovator that, through the generations, has demonstrated a willingness to develop initiatives that respond to the changing needs in healthcare. A great example is Pfizer’s response to an appeal from the U.S. Government in 1941 to expedite the manufacture of penicillin. The company’s management invested millions of dollars, putting at stake their own assets as stockholders, to buy the equipment and facilities needed for the novel process of deep-tank fermentation. Pfizer employees worked around the clock to perfect the complex production process and in just four months, the company was producing five times more penicillin than originally anticipated. To this day, our employees are innovators and trailblazers who are committed to finding the next cure.

Q. What Pfizer initiatives would you like to share with the Council?
A. Pfizer’s R&D is active in the areas of oncology, neuroscience, cardiovascular, inflammation and immunology and rare diseases. Two big concerns currently being explored are difficult to treat cancers and vaccines for diseases that are particularly impactful in high risk populations. As a healthcare company – and not just a drug manufacturer – we also invest a lot of our talent and time on prevention with programs such as Get Old and other healthy living initiatives designed to advance wellness, prevention, treatments, and cures.

Q. What is Pfizer doing to change the way people think about and approach healthcare?
A. Our nation is on the cusp of a gigantic change in medicine. Innovations such as gene therapy and personalized medicine take us closer to unlocking ways to treat many illnesses. At the same time, patients are increasingly faced with access barriers to treatment. Pfizer is working with advocacy organizations to make sure that patients’ needs are always in focus, from innovation to manufacturing to engagement in public policy. That is how we continue our commitment to innovative research and patient-centric healthcare.

Q. What partnerships has Pfizer had with NCL?
A. Pfizer has partnered with NCL over the years in many efforts to educate consumers on healthcare topics. We believe that informed consumers have a distinct advantage when it comes to their healthcare and are proud of our role in raising awareness about prevention initiatives that benefit consumers as well as initiatives that protect patients. 

Q. What does Pfizer value about membership in NCL’s Health Advisory Council? 
A. NCL’s Health Advisory Council provides a valuable forum to discuss critical healthcare policies with a variety of stakeholders. In bringing together the broad healthcare community, including leading government officials, the Health Advisory Council inspires a constructive dialogue that enhances our understanding of public needs. I find the diversity of viewpoints inspiring and educational, and I look forward to continuing our charge of protecting patients and promoting healthy lives.

Issue 57 | November 30, 2017

#DataInsecurity Digest: Uber under fire for breach cover-up

By John Breyault (@jammingecono, johnb@nclnet.org)
NCL Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud

Subscribe here. Tell us what you think.

Editor’s Note: Election insecurity was back in the news this week with reports that President Trump’s election integrity commission made voting data of nearly 100 million citizens vulnerable to hackers. Meanwhile, the potential financial fallout from past data breaches became apparent with Hilton Hotels paying out $700,000 to settle charges from two of its 2015 data breaches. There were also reports that Equifax’s data breach could cost the company $110 million. And, not surprisingly, a new Gallup poll found that Americans are more worried about cyber crime than any other type of crime.

On to the clips!

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Uber attempted to cover up a 57 million-account breach. Last week, Uber disclosed that millions of customer and driver names, phone numbers, and email addresses were stolen from a third-party server. In its disclosure, Uber acknowledged that it payed a $100,000 ransom to the hackers. @MikeIsaac reports that not only did Uber pay the ransom, but also in order to keep the breach secret, “the company tracked down the hackers and pushed them to sign nondisclosure agreements, according to the people familiar with the matter. To further conceal the damage, Uber executives also made it appear as if the payout had been part of a ‘bug bounty.” (Source: New York Times)

Uber facing Congressional scrutiny for breach cover-up. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, including Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD), are beginning to question Uber’s handling of its massive data breach. Thune, along with three other Senate Republicans, sent a letter to Uber demanding “a full timeline of the breach discovery and Uber’s following actions.” Thune and colleagues noted in the letter that it’s not just that the company “concealed the breach without notifying affected drivers and consumers,” it’s that “prior privacy concerns at Uber” make it “a serious incident that merits further scrutiny.” (Source: Recode)

At least five states are investigating Uber. Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, and Connecticut have all pledged to investigate Uber’s mishandling of its breach. In addition, @TonyRomm reports: “Uber must contend with the possible threat of a new probe at the Federal Trade Commission.” While the top privacy enforcement agency has not said it will investigate Uber, it has stated that it is “closely evaluating the serious issues raised.” (Source: Recode)

Criminals are using Equifax data to open credit cards and take out mortgages in victims’ names. Numerous accounts of identity theft came to light after a national class action lawsuit, Allen et al v. Equifax, was filed. One plaintiff has claimed that “multiple ‘unauthorized mortgages’ have been applied for using his stolen information.” (Source: Washington Post)

Pentagon leaves 1.8 billion documents on unsecured server. While the documents were not classified, as they were “internet posts scraped from social media, news sites, forums and other publicly available websites,” @selenalarson reports that the Pentagon’s “failure to fully secure the data raises concerns about government cybersecurity practices.” (Source: CNN)

Iranian hacker charged for HBO breach. Iranian hacker Behzad Mesri is facing charges for the theft of 1.5 terabytes of data that was stolen from HBO last May. The data includes unaired episodes of “Ballers,” “Barry,” “Room 104,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Deuce,” and the script of an unaired episode of “Game of Thrones.” The hacker released the data to the public after HBO refused to pay a $6 million ransom. (Source: New York Times)

UK warns that Putin could use your Tinder account to blackmail you. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is warning that “Russian hackers are capable of tracking users’ electronic footprints on Tinder and other social media that helps them build up a user profile,” even if users created an anonymous profile. The NCSC further warned consumers: “attackers could use the data for a variety of malicious purposes.” (Source: Daily Mail)

Events

February 28, 2018 – Privacy Con 2018, Washington, DC
In February, the FTC will host its third Privacy Con, convening a broad array of academics, researchers, consumer advocates, government officials, and industry representatives to address the privacy implications of emerging technologies.

National Consumers League
Published November 30, 2017

Issue 55 | November 2, 2017

#DataInsecurity Digest: Equifax knew about vulnerability; White House considers cyber strategy

By John Breyault (@jammingecono, johnb@nclnet.org)
NCL Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud

Subscribe here. Tell us what you think.

Editor’s Note: Equifax remained in the headlines this week when it came to light that the credit-reporting giant knew about its security vulnerability as early as December 2016 and chose to do nothing. Deservingly, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority began investigating Equifax’s actions, and may even prevent Equifax from running credit checks on British citizens.

The Trump Administration announced that after 10 months in office, it’s in the beginning stages of creating a cybersecurity strategy. Meanwhile, researchers found a massive vulnerability in LG connected devices, which could have led to several safety hazards including hackers remotely turning on stovetops and operating in-home cameras.

On to the clips!

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Equifax knew of its security vulnerability in December and turned a blind eye. @lorenzoFB reports that months prior to its massive breach, a security researcher warned Equifax that an employee portal “was completely exposed to anyone on the internet. [The portal] displayed several search fields, and anyone—with no authentication whatsoever—could force the site to display the personal data of Equifax’s customers…” The fact that this vulnerability was left unpatched for months “opens the possibility that more than one group of hackers broke into the company.” (Source: Motherboard)

Equifax’s regulatory fallout intensifies with new U.K. Financial Conduct Authority investigation. The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority has announced it will investigate Equifax in the wake of 694,000 UK citizens having their personal data compromised. @kayewiggins reports that, “The regulator has the power to fine the firm or even withdraw its authorization, which would prevent it from running credit checks in Britain.” (Source: Bloomberg Technology)

Speaking of Equifax’s lax security…10 percent of surveyed financial firms were hacked in 2017. New research from Security Scorecard found that financial firms were much more susceptible to hacks than telecommunications (3 percent hacked in 2017), transportation (2 percent) or manufacturing firms (1 percent). In addition, the report also found that “Only 25 percent of the Top 20 FDIC-insured banks (ranked by cybersecurity performance) received an ‘A’ grade in DNS Health,” and that the “financial services industry had more malware events than five other industries combined.” (Source: Security Scorecard)  

Trump Administration’s cybersecurity strategy in process. Last week, White House Homeland Security Adviser @TomBossert45 announced that the White House plans to start drafting a new cybersecurity strategy. @Joseph_Marks_ reports that the strategy is likely to be based off of three main components: “improving the security of federal government computer networks; leveraging government resources to better secure critical infrastructure, such as hospitals, banks and financial firms; and establishing norms of good behavior in cyberspace and punishing bad behavior.” While @TomBossert45 would not provide a timeline for the strategy’s release, he did say that, “As soon as we’re prepared to put forward a strategy that will be beneficial to the government and the nation, we’ll do so.” (Source: Nextgov)

Citing executive privilege, White House blocks cyber czar from testifying in Senate. White House Cyber Coordinator Rob Joyce’s absence from the Senate Armed Services hearing led Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) to comment: “I would also like to note at the outset the empty chair at the witness table… Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the White House declined to have its cyber coordinator testify.” Sen. McCain left open the possibility to pursue Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-FL) suggestion of subpoenaing Rob Joyce. (Source: The Hill)

Breach du jour: LG home appliances. A vulnerability found in the LG SmartThinQ application could have allowed hackers to “take over a user’s account and control connected appliances such as their oven, refrigerator, dishwasher, washing machine, air conditioner and more.” Check Point Software Technologies, the security researchers who discovered the flaw, stated that the vulnerability also “gave attackers the potential to spy on users’ home activities via the Hom-Bot robot vacuum cleaner video camera.” (Source: Yahoo News)

Americans’ mobile device cyber hygiene has improved by more than 50 percent in the past 5 years. A CTIA study finds that “77 percent of Americans use PINs/passwords on their smartphones, a 54 percent increase in the last five years,” and that “(n)early 50 percent of Americans have an anti-virus program installed on their smartphone, a 58 percent increase in the last five years.” (Source: CTIA)

Events

February 28, 2018 – Privacy Con 2018, Washington, DC
In February, the FTC will host its third Privacy Con, convening a broad array of academics, researchers, consumer advocates, government officials, and industry representatives to address the privacy implications of emerging technologies.

National Consumers League
Published November 2, 2017

Issue 53 | October 5, 2017

#DataInsecurity Digest: Momentum for action on data security standard building

By John Breyault (@jammingecono, johnb@nclnet.org)
NCL Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud

Subscribe here. Tell us what you think.

Editor’s Note: Momentum for federal action on data security standards continued to grow this week. Equifax’s ousted chief executive is testifying this week at four separate hearings in both the House and Senate to mixed reviews, so far. Verizon announced that a security review of its newly-acquired Yahoo unit discovered that 3 billion accounts were actually compromised in hacks, which was previously estimated at only 1 billion. Director Richard Cordray of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) may have provided consumers with some peace of mind when he announced that the CFPB will begin monitoring the security practices of the giant credit reporting agencies to ensure that nothing like the Equifax breach ever happens again. Meanwhile, millions of credit cards have been compromised due to a point-of-sale breach at both Sonic Drive-In and Whole Foods.

On to the clips!

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Bipartisan demand for more data security protections at Equifax hearing. Both sides of the aisle at Tuesday’s Energy and Commerce Committee hearing expressed outrage over the never-ending stream of data breaches. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) called for new federal laws to “put some teeth behind penalties for data breaches …[w]e could have this hearing every year from now on if we don’t do something to change the current system.” Rep. Barton also called for additional penalties so “that even a company that’s worth $13 billion would rather protect the data, and probably not collect as much data, than have to come up here and appear and say ‘we’re sorry.’” (Source: New York Times)

Yahoo breach actually impacted 3 billion accounts. The previously-reported 1 billion record breach at Yahoo (now known as Oath after its acquisition by Verizon) was actually much bigger. Try 2 billion records bigger. This makes the biggest-ever breach in history even larger by orders of magnitude. “On the one hand, this new information doesn’t really change things in a practical sense, because the initial billion account estimate was already enormous—you could safely assume you were impacted—and Yahoo took protective steps for all users in December,” writes @lilyhnewman. “On the other hand, three billion accounts.” (Source: WIRED) 

CFPB to be one of the cops on the beat charged with protecting consumers’ data security. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray recently commented that, “[i]f [companies] are going to restore public confidence in this marketplace, and if they’re going to create the kind of reforms necessary, they’re going to have to recognize the old days of just doing what they want, being subject to lawsuits now and then, are over … We’re going to have monitoring in place that’s preventive. It’s going to be a different regime than we’re used to.” Codray also took a swipe at the credit bureaus’ past indifference to data security, saying. “[i]n the past they (credit bureaus) dealt with these problems on their own. They did the best they could. … That’s not good enough.” (Source: CNBC)

While the SEC’s data breach is smaller in size, its impact may be just as damaging as Equifax’s. SEC chairman Walter J. Clayton acknowledges that a breach at his agency “may have provided the basis for illicit gain through trading.” However, Clayton’s public response to the breach made matters even worse when he said that “even the most diligent cybersecurity efforts will not address all cyber risks that enterprises face.” This led @peterjhenning to reflect, “Those words are certain to be cited back to the SEC by any company — especially Equifax — when questions are raised about the systems it uses to prevent digital attacks and make a timely disclosure to the public when they do occur.” (Source: New York Times)

Breach du jour: Sonic Drive-In breach compromises up to 5 million credit cards. Last week @briankrebs broke the story that the fastfood drive-in restaurant was the subject of a point-of-sale breach after 5 million credit cards were posted for sale on the dark web. Krebs cautions that Sonic may not be responsible for all of the 5 million cards as, “there are some (as yet unconfirmed) indications that perhaps Sonic customer cards are being mixed in with those stolen from other eatery brands that may be compromised by the same attackers.” (Source: Krebs on Security)

Breach du jour part deux: Whole Foods. Last week Whole Foods announced that its full-service restaurants and taprooms were the subject of a point-of-sale breach. @justinwmmoyer of @washingtonpost reports that 56 stores across the country were impacted by the breach. The grocery store chain stated that as its “restaurants and taprooms use a separate checkout system and information, its grocery shoppers weren’t affected.” (Source: Wall Street Journal)

Government contractor and cybersecurity firm Deloitte hacked. While Deloitte claims that the breach impacted “very few” clients, @briankrebs reports that it may be much more widespread than the company is acknowledging. Krebs’ sources stated that “investigators still are not certain that they have completely evicted the intruders from the network,” and that the hackers “accessed the entire email database and all admin accounts … [b]ut we never notified our advisory clients or our cyber intel clients.” (Source: Krebs on Security)

Quick hit: McAffee report finds ‘health, public and education sectors collectively comprised more than 50 percent of all cybersecurity incidents.’ McAffee’s report also found that “the majority of publicly-disclosed cybersecurity incidents (78 percent) took place in the Americas.” (Source: Becker’s Hospital Review)

Events

February 28, 2018 – Privacy Con 2018, Washington, DC
In February, the FTC will host its third Privacy Con, convening a broad array of academics, researchers, consumer advocates, government officials, and industry representatives to address the privacy implications of emerging technologies.

National Consumers League
Published October 5, 2017

NCL health policy at work

Defending the ACA, Medicare, and Medicaid

As part of the Protect Our Care coalition, NCL continues to be actively engaged in the nationwide effort to protect the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid through statements, letters, and social media channels. Like many of you, we are working with our colleagues in the consumer, patient, and public health communities to support a bipartisan effort that will strengthen and improve the Affordable Care Act and shore up, not undermine, the healthcare marketplace.   

Generic drugs

On September 15, NCL submitted comments to FDA in follow-up to the FDA’s July 18, 2017 public meeting on “Administering the Hatch-Waxman Amendments: Ensuring a Balance Between Innovation and Access.” NCL’s comments focused on the following areas: pay-for-delay agreements; product hopping; Citizen Petitions; REMS requirements and generics; and reducing the generic drug backlog at the FDA.

Biosimilar biological products

On July 13, NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg testified in support of biosimilars at the FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting consideration of Mylan’s biosimilar to Genentech’s HERCEPTIN (trastuzumab) for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer and gastric cancer.       

On September 6, NCL submitted comments to CMS on the CY 2018 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule biosimilar payment policy. We urged CMS to include language that assigns each biosimilar product its own unique reimbursement code in order to preserve the physician-patient decision-making relationship and ensure robust biosimilar research and development.  

Alzheimer’s Disease

NCL is proud to be a partner in WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s We Won’t Wait Campaign, which seeks to unite women in a widespread effort to define Alzheimer’s as the 21st Century’s primary economic justice issue and health crisis for women. The Campaign promotes advocacy, education, and action on 5 key pillars: public funding; sex-based research; economic justice; diagnosis and treatment; and brain health.    

In August, NCL facilitated a meeting for advocates including Jill Lesser, President of WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s, and Dr. Lindsay Chura, Chief Scientific Officer of AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health, with Dr. Janet Woodcock, Director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), and other CDER staff. The group discussed the state of the Alzheimer’s drug pipeline and ways to encourage the development of Alzheimer’s treatments. We were pleased to hear FDA Commissioner Gottlieb speak on the topic and indicate that FDA would be clarifying the Guidance for the development of safe and effective Alzheimer’s treatments.

MyHealthPlan.guide 

In preparation for Open Enrollment, NCL worked with America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) to update and add new content to our joint MyHealthPlan.guide website, a comprehensive online tool that informs, educates, and engages consumers to better understand how health insurance works. The site provides consumers with easy-to-access, straightforward information to determine the health insurance coverage that is right for them and how to best use it to meet their personal health needs.    

FDA Appropriations

This month, NCL participated with more than 20 members of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA in the Alliance’s September Advocacy Day on the Hill. NCL met with the offices of Senate Appropriations Ranking Member Leahy (D-VT), Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chairman Hoeven (R-ND) and other Subcommittee members to thank the Senators for supporting the FDA in the FY 18 appropriations cycle and to lay the groundwork for the FY 19 cycle.