Jimmy R. Mitchell, RPh, MPH, MS

Jimmy Mitchell is the Director of the Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and Co-Director, with Dr. Denise Geolot, of HRSAs Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative. His office administers the 340B Drug Pricing Program through which more than 12,000 outpatient clinics and disproportionate share hospitals purchase approximately $5 billion annually in discounted drugs. He has directed several new initiatives, including the Prime Vendor Program, clinical pharmacy demonstration grants, and the Alternative Methods Demonstration projects, all of which improve access to comprehensive pharmacy services for underserved populations. He retired from the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps after 31 years of service.

Mr. Mitchell graduated from the Ole Miss School of Pharmacy, where he currently serves on the Deans advisory committee. He also earned a Masters Degree in National Resource Strategy (health care focus) from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and a Masters Degree in Public Health from the John Hopkins University.

Mr. Mitchell is the recipient of both the APhA Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Managements Award for Distinguished Achievement in Administrative Practice and the ASHP Award of Excellence. He is the 2009-2010 Honorary President of APhA.

William von Oehsen is a Principal in Powers, Pyles, Sutter and Verville, P.C., a law firm specializing in health care law and policy. He helped establish and serves as President and General Counsel to the Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access (SNHPA), an organization of over approximately 500 public and private non-profit hospitals participating in the Public Health Service 340B drug discount program. Mr. von Oehsen played a key role in the passage of the law that created the 340B drug discount program, and is deeply involved in the implementation of the program. In 1997, he helped organize the 340B Coalition, which now represents a dozen or more national organizations whose members comprise virtually all of the safety net providers participating in the 340B program. Mr. von Oehsen, along with his colleague Ted Slafsky, is also responsible for the creation and publication of the Federal Drug Discount and Compliance Monitor, the first publication to focus specifically on the 340B program and other pharmacy access issues.

In addition to representing SNHPA and other clients on 340B, Mr. von Oehsen provides guidance to states, local governments and other health care entities in their efforts to improve access to pharmaceutical care and to ensure compliance with pharmaceutical laws. Mr. von Oehsen has experience with not only the 340B program, but also the Medicaid drug rebate program, Medicare Part D, the federal supply schedule and federal ceiling price programs, state pharmaceutical assistance programs, and related authorities.