The 340B drug discount program becomes more essential by the minute as safety-net hospitals face steep shortfalls in federal assistance under the Affordable Care Act.
The Wall Street Journal reports today (subscription required) about how many of New York City’s “financially strapped” 340B hospitals “are scrambling to sign up people for health coverage through New York state’s exchange or through Medicaid as they brace for” the impact of cuts in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments, which help defray the cost of uncompensated and undercompensated care.
Jason Helgerson, the New York state Medicaid director, notes in the article that the DSH cuts “are putting more pressure on a safety-net hospital system already on the verge of collapse.”
Pam Brier, CEO of Maimonides Medical Center, adds, “We know the Affordable Care Act is not a money-maker for us.” Alan Aviles, president of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., points out that 60 to 70 percent of the uninsured patients that the health system’s 11 hospitals serve each year are undocumented immigrants.
Last week, we passed along a moving front-page article in The New York Times about how Georgia safety-net hospitals are struggling to cope with ACA’s DSH payment cuts. 340B savings mean more to these hospitals and their patients than ever.