Samantha’s practice encompasses a broad range of complex transactions, compliance and regulatory issues, and governance matters for clients across the health care sector, with an emphasis on pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) contract negotiation. She has experience assisting with mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, and reorganizations, preparing corporate agreements, and advising on compliance issues.
Prior to joining Mintz, Samantha was an associate in the Investment Management Group of a New York–based international law firm, where she worked on corporate transactions, fund formations, and securities compliance matters.
Samantha maintains an active pro bono practice that has included assisting pro bono clients with nonprofit incorporation and advising on asylum and housing matters.
Samantha earned her JD from Columbia University, where she served as a student editor and judge for the Foundation Moot Court and as a staff member of the Columbia Journal of Gender & Law. During law school, Samantha also organized a legal clinic in conjunction with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai’s East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership.
viewpoints
PBM Policy and Legislative Update — Summer 2024
July 31, 2024 | Blog | By Theresa Carnegie, Tara E. Dwyer, Rachel A. Alexander, Bridgette Keller, Madison Castle, David Gilboa, Xavier Hardy, Samantha Hawkins, Stephnie John, Pat Ouellette, Alison H. Peters, Abdie Santiago, Hassan Shaikh, Sophia Temis
Mintz IRA Update — Learning From Experience: Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program Updates
July 15, 2024 | Blog | By Stephnie John, Samantha Hawkins, Madison Castle
Mintz IRA Update — The Consequences and Costs of Redesigning the Part D Program
July 15, 2024 | Blog | By Tara E. Dwyer, Lauren Moldawer, David Gilboa, Samantha Hawkins, Stephnie John, Matthew Tikhonovsky
Read about the 2025 redesign of the Medicare Part D program pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and how those changes impact Medicare Part D plan sponsors, beneficiaries, and manufacturers.
Mintz IRA Update — Third Edition: Q2 2024
July 15, 2024 | Blog | By Rachel A. Alexander, Theresa Carnegie, Madison Castle, Mitchell Clough, Tara E. Dwyer, David Gilboa, Xavier Hardy, Samantha Hawkins, Stephnie John, Bridgette Keller, Lauren Moldawer, Abdie Santiago, Hassan Shaikh
In ‘Third Edition: Q2 2024’ of the Mintz IRA Update, we cover updates to the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program being considered by CMS, developments in litigation challenging the program, the consequences and costs of redesigning the Part D program, opposition to the use of march-in rights to lower drug prices, and the growing use of state prescription drug affordability boards.
PBM Update: Special Edition - FTC 6(b) Interim Staff Report and Activity
July 12, 2024 | Alert | By Rachel A. Alexander, Tara E. Dwyer, Theresa Carnegie, Joseph Miller , Bridgette Keller, Samantha Hawkins, Hassan Shaikh, Payton Thornton
On July 9, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Office of Policy Planning released an Interim Staff Report titled Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The Powerful Middlemen Inflating Drug Costs and Squeezing Main Street Pharmacies. The Interim Staff Report reflects the FTC’s work since it began its 6(b) study of PBMs in June 2022. Mintz’s Health and Antitrust teams actively monitor federal and state regulatory and legislative developments in the PBM space, including those from the FTC. In this Special Edition of the PBM Policy and Legislative Update, the Mintz Health team partnered with our Antitrust colleagues to analyze the Interim Staff Report including Commissioner Melissa Holyoak’s dissenting statement. We also highlight upcoming Congressional testimony by CEOs of the three largest PBMs, as well as media reports of a forthcoming FTC action related to PBM insulin rebate practices.
Contract Year 2025 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program
June 6, 2024 | Blog | By Tara E. Dwyer, Samantha Hawkins
As part of its 2025 Medicare Advantage and Part D Final Rule (the Final Rule), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized a number of regulatory changes relating to how Medicare Advantage (MA) plans offer supplemental benefits and how they communicate such benefits to plan members. As previewed in the Proposed 2025 Rules, the Final Rule outlines CMS’s intentions to (i) more closely monitor the supplemental benefits that a Medicare Advantage organization (MAO) offers and categorizes as "Special Supplemental Benefits" for the Chronically Ill (SSBCI) and (ii) require MA plans to send annual notices to MA plan enrollees regarding their available supplemental benefits.
Recognition & Awards
Lawyers of Color: Hot List (2022)
National Black Lawyers: “Top 40 Under 40” for New York (2022)