A new report describes how the federal government’s 340B Drug Pricing Program works, how it serves low-income participants, what might happen if the program were curtailed, and why the program remains as important as ever despite the declining number of uninsured Americans.
The program, created in the early 1990s, requires pharmaceutical companies to provide outpatient drugs to eligible health care providers at significantly reduced prices. Providers qualify based on the number of low-income and uninsured patients they serve and they must be non-profit organizations.
Most Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals participate in the program.
Amid a considerable increase in the number of eligible providers, drug companies have been calling on the federal government to scale back the program.
Learn more about the 340B program in the new report “340B Program Helps Hospitals Provide Services to Vulnerable Patients: Results From a Survey of 340B Health Members,” released by the advocacy organization 340B Health. Find the report here.