September 13, 2012—The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has asked a California court to invalidate a 2009 state law that bars safety-net providers from carving their 340B drug purchases out from Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program. In a July 26 complaint filed in state Superior Court in Los Angeles, AHF says the law violates the state constitution and state and federal … [Read more...]
HRSA Renews Contract for 340B Prime Vendor for Another Year
Exercises one-year option to continue its agreement with ApexusSeptember 13, 2012—The Health Resources and Services Administration has opted to renew its contract with Apexus to operate the 340B Prime Vendor Program (PVP) for another year. In 2009, HRSA signed Apexus to a two-year base contract to run PVP with three option years, the first of which HRSA exercised in October 2011. … [Read more...]
Two Audited 340B Hospitals Get Clean Bills of Health
The first two of 51 HRSA audit reports find no evidence of diversion, duplicate discounts, or ineligibilityAugust 30, 2012—Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) program integrity audits of two hospitals' 340B drug discount programs identified no occurrences of drug diversion to ineligible patients, duplicate discounts under Medicaid, or eligibility issues, the Drug Discount Monitor has learned. Denver Health and Hospital Authority, an integrated public health system … [Read more...]
“C-suite” Executives Share Lessons About 340B
Webinar focuses on benefits to patients and compliance best practicesAugust 28, 2012—Without 340B drug discounts, safety-net hospitals and community health centers (CHCs) would find it difficult, if not impossible, to continue providing free or reduced-cost comprehensive pharmacy care to the poor and uninsured, top senior executives at six 340B hospitals and centers said during a recent Pharmacy Services Support Center (PSSC) webinar. But … [Read more...]
340B Health Center Recertification Set to Begin in January
New patient eligibility guidance coming "in the near future," Pedley says during webinarAugust 16, 2012—The Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) plans to begin recertifying federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) enrolled in the 340B program in January, with the first notification emails being sent to centers' authorizing officials in November, OPA announced this week. During an Aug. 14 webinar, OPA Director Cmdr. Krista Pedley also said that 340B stakeholders … [Read more...]
OPA Moving 340B Change Request Process Online
Paper forms will still be required for termination requests and some other updatesAugust 8, 2012—Beginning next week, health care providers that need to update certain information in the Office of Pharmacy Affairs' (OPA) 340B covered entity database will have to use a new online tool instead of submitting paper forms. OPA made the announcement on its home page this morning. … [Read more...]
OPA No Longer Posting 340B Hospital DSH Data on Its Web Site
Says it is assessing alternatives to list that came from CMSAugust 3, 2012—The Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) is no longer relying on disproportionate share (DSH) adjustment percentage data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to assist in the determination of whether a hospital qualifies for 340B, and it will not be posting DSH payment percentages on its Web site any longer. The following announcement recently … [Read more...]