May 25, 2022— Federal appeals courts are considering legal challenges to the government’s authority to require drug companies to restore 340B drug pricing program discounts on drugs dispensed at community and specialty pharmacies. In a series of legal briefs filed with two of the courts, five national hospital associations and 25 state attorneys general urged the courts to … [Read more...]
With 340B Pricing Restrictions, Hospitals Are Facing Double the Trouble
May 18, 2022— Safety-net hospitals participating in the 340B drug pricing program are reporting that the negative effects of restrictions imposed by pharmaceutical companies on access to drug price discounts are rapidly rising. A new survey of more than 500 hospitals participating in 340B finds that the financial losses from these restrictions more than doubled in three short … [Read more...]
Faces of 340B: Community Pharmacy Partnerships Aid in the Cancer Care Cause
April 22, 2022 – A bell rings and a round of applause is heard. A patient is marking the end of their cancer treatments at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll, Iowa. The patient knows the chemotherapy and radiation treatments they received from the St. Anthony Regional Cancer Center enabled them to reach this special day. What they may not realize is that the hospital’s … [Read more...]
340B Community Pharmacy Legal Battle Moves to Next Stage
April 18, 2022— A nearly two-year dispute between hospitals participating in the 340B drug discount program and a group of drug companies pulling back from their 340B commitments has fully entered a new phase of legal wrangling. Over the coming months, three federal appeals courts will review lower court decisions that came to differing conclusions on what federal law says … [Read more...]
340B Hospitals Showed Resiliency Under Duress in 2021
April 8, 2022— New research demonstrates the essential role that the 340B drug pricing program played for safety-net hospitals in a year marked by enormous financial pressures that were both naturally occurring and manmade. An annual 340B Health survey of more than 500 hospitals participating in 340B found that all reported using savings they received through drug discounts … [Read more...]
New Law Protects 340B Hospitals from Eligibility Loss During COVID-19
March 31, 2022– Safety-net hospitals have been on the front lines of our national response to the COVID-19 public health emergency since it started in 2020. They have had to absorb massive changes in their day-to-day operations to serve waves of COVID patients. They scrambled to increase hospital bed and intensive care unit capacity, cared for COVID patients while taking … [Read more...]
Drugmakers Cutting 340B Discounts Reported Record Revenues Last Year
March 10, 2022– The 14 drug companies that have imposed or announced restrictions on safety-net hospital access to 340B drug pricing program discounts collectively brought in more than a half-trillion dollars in revenues in 2021. The banner year for the drugmakers occurred as hospitals reported increasing losses of 340B savings from the cuts. Last month, most drug companies … [Read more...]