November 16, 2020 – With all eyes focused on the 2020 elections earlier this month, it would have been understandable to have missed the anniversary of the 340B drug pricing program. Nov. 4 marked the observance of the date the law establishing 340B was enacted. Just as it did 28 years ago, when President George H.W. Bush signed the statute into law with little fanfare, the … [Read more...]
Faces of 340B: Making Chemotherapy Affordable
October 30, 2020 – Surrounded by her husband and daughter, Erika Aguero was crying because she had just found out the news no patient ever wants to hear. When she heard she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, she worried that she was going to die. Her immediate concern was not the lifesaving chemotherapy treatment itself but how she was going to be able to afford it. But she … [Read more...]
Faces of 340B: Breathing Easier
October 16, 2020 – Dan Hargrave was struggling to breathe, and he and his physicians initially were not sure why. He had asthma as a child, but his doctors were not confident this was the cause. Eventually, Dan was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He did not know it at the time, but the 340B drug pricing program would be a key element of how he would … [Read more...]
Drug Industry Report on 340B Attempts a Diversion from Unlawful Manufacturer Actions
October 14, 2020— A new report from the drug industry consultant Berkeley Research Group (BRG) takes aim at community-based pharmacies in the 340B drug pricing program. The report implies, without evidence, that for-profit pharmacy chains are making excessive profits on these arrangements. It ignores the fact that these partnerships provide critical funding for safety-net and … [Read more...]
340B Hospitals Support Mental Health Challenges No Matter the Circumstances
October 9, 2020 – Fifty percent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this is the estimated percentage of Americans who will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder in their lifetime. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health already was one of the top health challenges Americans faced. But as we recognize National Mental Illness … [Read more...]
We Have More Reasons Than Ever to Celebrate Pharmacists This Month
October 7, 2020— October is American Pharmacists Month, and this year we have even more reasons to celebrate their contributions to the health care system. Pharmacists are as essential to the health care system’s mobilization in the face of the current public health crisis as the emergency room physicians, the epidemiologists, the intensive care unit nursing staff, and others … [Read more...]
JAMA Study Shows 340B Can Help Restrain Drug Price Hikes
September 22, 2020— A recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece by a pharmaceutical industry consultant resurfaces claims that statutory discounts for safety-net hospitals, health centers, and clinics are forcing drug companies to hike their prices. Drug manufacturers are using this false notion as a pretext for urging program cutbacks in the guise of “reforms” and for refusing … [Read more...]