December 28, 2018— A federal court has found the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) exceeded its authority by making deep cuts to Medicare Part B drug payments to many 340B hospitals. The decision marks a major victory for hospitals and their patients. Ruling on Dec. 27, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a permanent injunction against … [Read more...]
An Extraordinary Year of Focus for 340B
As 2018 comes to a close, we can look back on 12 months of notable focus on the 340B drug pricing program. With four congressional hearings and more than a dozen pieces of legislation on Capitol Hill, and several regulatory efforts by the Trump administration, 340B was under a magnifying glass. Not all of this activity was constructive. Some efforts would have done … [Read more...]
Faces of 340B: Helping Patients Back on Their Feet
December 7, 2018— Getting healthy can be a particularly difficult thing for uninsured people to do, especially if they need prescription drugs that they can’t afford on their own. San Ysidro Health, a nonprofit organization in San Diego, aims to address this problem through a program that uses 340B savings to get patients integrated back into the health care system. … [Read more...]
Hits & Misses: 340B Commentary Gets Some Things Right But Misses on Others
November 28, 2018— In a recent commentary published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), authors Peter Bach of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Rachel Sachs of Washington University in St. Louis call for an alternative financial mechanism for the 340B program, claiming the 340B program has resulted in market distortions and shifts in physician … [Read more...]
Busy times for 340B in Washington
November 19, 2018—The midterm elections were not the only source of Washington-related news in recent weeks with implications for the health care system. When it comes to 340B, several key events occurred in the days leading up to Election Day that might have longer-lasting implications for the program than the makeup of the 116th Congress. White House thinks globally on … [Read more...]
Faces of 340B: “Healing for Life”
October 12, 2018—Frequent hospitalizations are not just hard on patients, their families, and their caregivers – they also incur significant costs for the entire health system. This is especially true for patients with treatable chronic illnesses who are unable to control their medical conditions. For one such patient at Intermountain Healthcare, an integrated health … [Read more...]
Faces of 340B: A Story About Family
June 11, 2018 – For Sandy Clark, the 340B program is personal. She was inspired to become a 340B coordinator due to the experience of one special patient in particular – her own son. Sandy’s son was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2005, just a month before graduating from high school. At the time, Meadville Medical Center in northwestern Pennsylvania did not have the … [Read more...]