May 17, 2019– A recent study highlights how the 340B drug pricing program helps a safety-net hospital provide critical treatment to patients with Hepatitis C (HCV) and improve health outcomes. Published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC) found that the hospital’s 340B savings enabled them to operate a primary-care based multidisciplinary HCV … [Read more...]
Drug Industry Consultant Paints Incomplete Picture of 340B
May 14, 2019– Drug-industry consultant Adam Fein has released his annual analysis of the 340B program, painting an incomplete picture of the size and scope of the program. Fein claims in his Drug Channels blog that the 340B program “accounts for at least 7-to-8 percent of the total U.S. drug market […] yet hospitals’ charity care has dropped amid 340B program’s growth.” Not … [Read more...]
Let’s Celebrate Maternal Health on Mother’s Day
May 10, 2019— For those of us dedicated to safety-net hospitals and the patients they serve, Mother’s Day is about much more than homemade cards and breakfast in bed. It’s also about recognizing that honoring mothers means ensuring access to maternal health, especially for women living in underserved areas. The issue of maternal health is one that is close to the heart for … [Read more...]
Drug companies answer scrutiny with more lobbying dollars
May 2, 2019— With its pricing practices under a congressional microscope, the pharmaceutical industry’s top trade group spent nearly $10 million on lobbying expenditures in the first three months of this year. That figure is on top of additional millions spent by some of the individual companies that have received the most attention recently in the drug pricing … [Read more...]
340B Hospitals Are in the Trenches of the Measles Battle
April 30, 2019— As the worst measles outbreak in decades continues, public health officials’ attention has focused on the importance of vaccinations to avoid spreading the disease. Hospitals participating in 340B are among those responding to the outbreak. One such 340B hospital is Montefiore Nyack Hospital, a 375-bed acute care medical and surgical hospital in Rockland … [Read more...]
340B Key to Trump Administration’s HIV Strategy
April 25, 2019— President Trump’s ambitious campaign to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. will rely heavily on the 340B drug pricing program, according to senior administration officials. A key focus of the effort is to connect people at risk of HIV infection to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a treatment that can cost nearly $2,000 a month. In his State of the Union … [Read more...]
Faces of 340B: The Bottom Line of Drug Savings
April 12, 2019— Few places demonstrate the importance of the 340B drug pricing program more clearly than a safety-net hospital whose 340B savings are greater than their operational bottom line. This is the case at Southern Ohio Medical Center, a sole community hospital serving Portsmouth, Ohio. Without the savings that they derive from 340B, they would not be able to afford … [Read more...]