Setting the record straight about 340B involves more than just responding to the program’s critics and pointing out where they’ve bent the truth or worse. Setting the record straight also means telling the story of how safety net hospitals and other caregivers use their 340B savings to meet the program’s purpose of stretching scarce federal resources, serving more patients, and providing better and more comprehensive care.
With that in mind, we’re happy to share two new 340B case studies from the field prepared by Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access (SNHPA).
The first, available here, describes how three hospitals in rural and urban Minnesota are using 340B savings to expand medication therapy management services, which put pharmacists in direct contact with individual patients for monitoring, evaluation, and therapeutic purposes. As a result, hospital admissions and medication errors are down, patient access to free or reduced-cost medicine is up, and patient outcomes are improving.
The second, available here, describes how hospitals in Kentucky and Michigan are using their 340B savings to help vulnerable patients get lifesaving cancer drugs for free or at reduced cost. These hospitals also are using 340B to provide cancer treatment in rural areas where patients previously had to travel more than 100 miles for care, to educate patients about how to properly take and pay for their medications, and to offer other support services.
Please help us spread the news about how 340B enables hospitals, health centers, and clinics stretch resources further, serve more patients, and improve care for those most in need. 340B’s opponents have unlimited resources to disparage the program, so we need your help. Click here and use the form to share your story with us. We need more stories like those in the latest case studies to educate policymakers and the public at large about how 340B enables safety-net institutions to make a positive difference in their communities. Thank you and please keep up the good fight on behalf of 340B and patients.