October 1, 2010—Despite the Office of Pharmacy Affairs’ (OPA) hopes for a significant budget increase, Congress passed stopgap spending legislation yesterday that keeps the 340B office’s funding at its $2.2 million fiscal 2010 level.
The legislation, called a continuing resolution, keeps the federal government afloat through Dec. 3. Congress returns for a post-election lame duck session on Nov. 15, but it’s questionable whether it will pass a health appropriations bill. If it doesn’t, it will pass another continuing resolution good through Sept. 30, 2011 and OPA’s funding will remain stuck at $2.2 million.
OPA officials have warned that they will not implement a new 340B dispute resolution process or another to impose civil monetary penalties on drug manufacturers that knowingly overcharge 340B providers if they do not get additional funding.
Cmdr. Krista Pedley, the OPA director, recent noted that her office now spends about $15 million per year, or about triple the $5.2 million appropriation it would get under President Obama’s budget request for fiscal 2011. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) currently covers OPA’s budget shortfall by shifting money to it from other accounts.
The full Senate Appropriations Committee has passed a 2011 health spending bill that would match Obama’s spending request for OPA. In July, the House health appropriations subcommittee marked up a companion bill that would give OPA’s parent agency, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) just under $7.62 billion or about $100 million more than the $7.52 billion it got in fiscal 2010. Obama has asked for about $7.64 billion for HRSA. Senate appropriators would essentially level-fund the agency. The House subcommittee didn’t specify how much OPA would get under its bill.