Updated 3:17 p.m.
The Washington office of King & Spalding received $50,000 to lobby on behalf of the Healthcare Distribution Management Association during the final quarter of 2011, according to congressional lobbying disclosure records filed late last week. The records noted that the law firm, as of Dec. 23, had ended its lobbying for the health care group.
The health care group is the national association representing primary health care distributors. According to its Web site, member businesses store nearly 56,000 prescription medicines and other health care products, from about 1,100 different manufacturers, in their facilities before they’re sent out to pharmacies.
According to congressional records, King & Spalding partner Patrick Morrisey had advocated on behalf of the Arlington, Va.-based trade group on various issues, including the implementation of “Average Sales Price (ASP) Methodology,” and the exclusion of prompt pay discounts from the ASP.
The ASP refers to a payment mechanism to reimburse health care providers under Medicare.
A congressional lobbying database notes that King & Spalding began lobbying for the health care group in 2010. In that time, the group has paid the firm about $250,000 for its advocacy work.
According to Morrisey, the firm’s 18-month contract with the health care group recently ended. The work ended by mutual agreement, he said, and on good terms.
A representative of the health care group said the group had no comment on the split with King & Spalding.
A few other law firms and lobby shops—including Brown Rudnick; Arent Fox; Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz; and lobby groups C2 Group and Tarplin, Downs & Young—also have been lobbying for the health care group at various times over the past five years, the database shows.
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