June 29, 2010 - Congressional Democrats have abandoned a tax and jobs bill that would have enabled children's hospitals to continue to buy outpatient orphan drugs at their 340B discounted prices and created a discount program for drugs administered or dispensed to hospital inpatients lacking health insurance. The fourth version of the bill, H.R. 4213, also included a … [Read more...]
HRSA’s Patient Safety Initiative Gets a New Funding Source
June 22, 2010 - The Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) drive to integrate evidence-based pharmacy services into care for high-risk, high-cost patients is getting a major boost from one of the public-private partnership's main members. Under the leadership of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation, the groups involved are forming a private, … [Read more...]
OIG Clears Two Charities’ Drug Co-Pay PAPS for Takeoff
Programs would provide cost-sharing aid for a number of diseases and medications.June 22, 2010 - A federal watchdog agency has given two nonprofit groups the all-clear to help poor and underinsured patients with a wide number of diseases or conditions meet their cost-sharing obligations for a number of prescription drugs. In a pair of advisory opinions published in late May and early June, the Department of Health and Human Service's Office of Inspector … [Read more...]
Hoped-for Growth in Bulk Drug Replacement Programs Fails to Materialize
Many firms' compliance requirements are also growing more onerous, hospital pharmacy officials say.A Drug Discount Monitor Special Report Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access Law Fellow Victoria Aufiero contributed to this report. June 22, 2010 - Nearly a year after a federal watchdog agency gave drug companies its blessing to give hospitals free prescription drugs in bulk for low-income uninsured patients without fear of violating anti-fraud rules, some … [Read more...]
Proposed 340B-1 Inpatient Drug Discount Up in the Air
Latest version of the bill includes revisions sought by hospital groups.June 22, 2010 - U.S. Senate leaders are weighing their options after failing to garner the 60 votes necessary to secure passage of a jobs and tax bill that would create a new discount program for drugs administered or dispensed to hospital inpatients lacking insurance. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, today released his third version of the … [Read more...]
CMS Begins Mailing Checks to Medicare Part D Enrollees in Coverage Gap
Subsidies will begin easing pressure on 340B providers that have been picking up beneficiaries' drug costs.June 10, 2010 - In a welcome development for 340B providers and their patients, the federal government begins mailing $250 checks today to elderly people caught in the Medicare Part D drug benefit's coverage gap, better known as the "donut hole." Closing the gap was a key element of the health care reform law signed by President Obama in late March. Enrollees in Medicare … [Read more...]
340B Providers Concerned About Grifols-Talecris Merger
Announcement came the same day as Baxter voluntarily withdrew GammaGard from market for safety reasons.June 8, 2010 - Spanish blood-plasma products company Grifols agreed yesterday to buy its American rival Talecris in a $3.4 billion deal that might draw the attention of federal anti-trust regulators. The merger was announced on the same day that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Baxter BioScience announced a voluntary recall of two lots of the Baxter intravenous … [Read more...]