October 11, 2017—The House Energy & Commerce oversight subcommittee held its second hearing on the 340B program this morning, focusing on how covered entities track and use their savings to improve patient care. Three 340B hospitals and health systems testified – Mission Health (N.C.), The Johns Hopkins Hospital (Md.), and Northside Hospital (Ga.). The committee also heard … [Read more...]
Co-Founder of GOP Doctor’s Caucus Urges CMS To Withdraw Reimbursement Cut
October 11, 2017—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should “stand down and rescind its deleterious proposal” to slash what Medicare pays 340B hospitals for many of the most expensive medicines in use today, a co-founder of the U.S. House GOP Doctors Caucus says. In a recent commentary in the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill, former Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) … [Read more...]
House 340B Hearing Set for Oct. 11
October 5, 2017—The House Energy & Commerce oversight subcommittee is holding a second hearing on the 340B drug discount program on Oct. 11. The subcommittee will hear testimony from executives at health center networks in North and South Carolina, health systems in Maryland and Georgia, and a Wisconsin HIV clinic. Four of the five providers got letters from the … [Read more...]
More Than Half of U.S. House Urges CMS to Drop 340B Hospital Cuts
September 29, 2017—A bipartisan majority of the U.S. House of Representatives wants the Trump administration to drop plans to slash what Medicare pays safety-net and rural hospitals for typically expensive specialty drugs that must be administered by trained professionals. The 228 Republican and Democratic lawmakers made the request in a Sept. 28 letter to Centers for … [Read more...]
Hospitals Protest Decision to Delay Rule to Deter Drug Manufacturer Overcharging
September 28, 2017—Hospitals in the federal 340B drug discount program objected strongly today to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to delay enforcement of a critical 340B program rule to police drug manufacturer overcharging, from Oct. 1, 2017 to July 1, 2018. The hospitals say they also are troubled that HHS says it intends to engage in additional … [Read more...]
Minnesota’s Largest Newspaper Explores How CMS Proposed Rule Would Hurt 340B Hospitals and Patients
September 25, 2017—Regulations proposed by the Trump administration could significantly weaken the 340B drug discount program, with programs for low-income or vulnerable patients taking the biggest hit, a 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winner writes in a front-page article in today’s Minneapolis Star-Tribune. … [Read more...]
340B Health Urges HHS to Start Enforcing Regulation to Police Drug Industry Overcharging
September 20, 2017— The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should not delay a long-overdue federal regulation to punish drug manufacturers that illegally overcharge safety-net hospitals and other healthcare providers for lifesaving medicines, thousands of safety-net providers enrolled in the federal 340B drug discount program said in written comments to HHS … [Read more...]