House passes a baby step on drug prices

• The new bill gives HHS the explicit authority to reclassify drugs, recover incorrect rebate payments, and fine drugmakers that knowingly misclassify drugs.
• While this bill is small, it's also a sign of at least some bipartisanship on drug prices.

By the numbers: Only about 3% of drugs in the Medicaid rebate program were potentially misclassified in 2016, according to an HHS report.

• Medicaid reimbursement for these drugs totaled about $813 million.
• While 54 drugmakers may have misclassified drugs, four were responsible for more than half of all potential misclassifications.
• Between 2012 and 2016, drugmakers may have owed an additional $1.3 billion in rebates for just 10 potentially misclassified drugs.

Go deeper: The drug pricing maze