section 340B prescription drug discount program Archives - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

SNAP Asks PA Delegation to Co-Sponsor, Support 340B Bill

SNAP has asked members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to co-sponsor and support bills (H.R. 3203 and S. 773) that would temporarily enable Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals and others already eligible for the 340B prescription drug discount program to remain eligible for the program despite short-term changes in their admissions patterns brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because of the manner in which the COVID-19 pandemic affected hospital admissions, some hospitals that have been eligible to participate in the 340B program could lose that eligibility for what is, in effect, a one-year anomaly. The proposed bills would temporarily enable current 340B participants to retain their eligibility for the program until hospitals’ inpatient volume returns to normal and they can demonstrate whether they still meet the criteria to continue participating in the program.

340B has long been a vital tool through which Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals receive significant discounts on the prescription drugs their low-income patients need, enabling these hospitals and other eligible providers to stretch scarce resources in services to the communities that depend on them.

jsteinbock2021-06-15T17:52:15+00:00June 15th, 2021|340b, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

SNAP Asks PA Delegation to Help Prevent Attempt to Undermine 340B

Pharmaceutical companies are attempting to prevent safety-net hospitals and others from receiving the full benefits of the section 340B prescription drug discount program and the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania has asked of the state’s congressional delegation to sign a congressional letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar asking to him intervene and stop the pharmaceutical companies.

Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania logo In asking members of the delegation to sign onto the bipartisan letter, SNAP notes that

The 340B program is essential for Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals, other qualified Pennsylvania providers, and others like us throughout the country, enabling us to obtain discounts on prescription drugs we dispense on an outpatient basis to qualified, low-income patients. The program greatly enhances the ability of hospitals to serve their low-income patients and does not cost taxpayers a single dime, but in recent weeks several pharmaceutical companies have taken steps to prevent hospitals from receiving the prescription drug discounts that Congress clearly intended when it created the 340B program nearly 30 years ago.

Learn more about the 340B problem and what SNAP and others are asking Secretary Azar to do to help in this SNAP message to members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation.

PA Safety Net Admin2020-09-09T16:05:44+00:00September 9th, 2020|340b, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

340B Déjà Vu: CMS Seeks to Collect Data From Hospitals

For the second time in four months, the federal government has announced its intention to collect data from hospitals and other providers on what they pay for the prescription drugs they purchase through the section 340B prescription drug discount program.

Last week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published a notice announcing its intention to collect this data. Previously, health care interests sued CMS when it attempted in 2018 to reduce payments to providers for drugs purchased through the 340B program and the court ruled against CMS, maintaining that the agency did not have enough data on hospitals’ acquisition costs for the drugs to justify the proposed payment reduction. The newly announced data collection effort seeks to rectify that shortcoming as the court considers CMS’s appeal of a similar decision in a lawsuit filed after CMS again proposed reducing 340B payments and was again rebuffed by the courts in 2019.

Under federal law, CMS must publish a notice declaring its intention to collect such data and seek input from stakeholders. For this particular notice, stakeholders have until March 9 to respond.

CMS published a similar notice in September of 2019 announcing its intention to collect similar data. That data collection never took place.

Most Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals participate in the 340B program and consider it a vital tool in serving the many low-income residents of the communities in which they are located.

To learn more about CMS’s 340B data collection effort, see the notice it published in the Federal Register and read the Becker’s Hospital Review article “CMS ready to survey 340B hospitals about drug acquisition costs.”

PA Safety Net Admin2020-02-13T06:00:33+00:00February 13th, 2020|340b, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

Senators Seek 340B Reprieve

A bipartisan group of senators has written to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer expressing concern about cuts in Medicare Medicare prescription drug payments to qualified providers as a result of new regulations governing the section 340B prescription drug discount program. Those cuts have been adopted by regulation by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and will take effect beginning on January 1, 2018.
Under the regulation adopted by CMS, Medicare payments for prescription drugs dispensed on an outpatient basis to low-income patients will be reduced to qualified providers by $1.6 billion in the coming year. While acknowledging problems with how the 340B program has evolved over the years, the senators ask their leaders to partner “…with CMS and other stakeholders to ensure the 340B program continues to support safety-net providers in helping low-income individuals access quality health care services with proper oversight and transparency.”
All Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals participate in the 340B program.
Neither Pennsylvania senator signed the letter.
See the letter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2017-12-12T06:00:31+00:00December 12th, 2017|Medicare, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

The Battle Over 340B

Hospitals and other health care providers say it is an essential tool in ensuring access to care, and to prescription drugs, for their low-income patients.
Pharmaceutical companies say it has expanded beyond its original purpose and is being used by hospitals to pad their profits.
Members of Congress are divided: some are supportive and some are skeptical.
The section 340B program that requires drug companies to provide discounts to selected hospitals and other providers that serve large numbers of low-income patients has been the subject of controversy in recent years. During that time, the administration has generally sided with hospitals and maintained the program.
That support was tempered recently when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed a 28 percent cut in Medicare payments to hospitals for drugs provided to low-income patients through the 340B program. Hospital industry groups responded by suing the federal government and will have their day in court later this month.
Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals participate in the 340B program and consider it essential to their ability to serve their communities.
What are the issues? Why do hospitals and other providers consider 340B so essential to their well-being while pharmaceutical companies and now, CMS, view the program with increasing skepticism?
Kaiser Health News has taken a look at these and other 340B questions. Read its story here.

PA Safety Net Admin2017-11-30T06:00:12+00:00November 30th, 2017|Medicare, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

Bill Seeks to Block 340B Cut

Legislation introduced in Congress would block the attempt by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to slash $1.6 billion in annual payments to hospitals for prescription drugs for outpatients prescribed through the federal section 340B prescription drug discount program.
Earlier this month CMS finalized its plan to reduce controversial 340B payments and shift $1.6 billion in savings into Medicare provider payments. If adopted, the bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by Representatives David McKinley (R-WV) and Mike Thompson (D-CA) would prevent the reduction of 340B payments, which are made to hospitals that care for especially large proportions of low-income patients.
The 340B program is an essential source of resources for private Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals and many stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even millions of dollars a year, if the payment cut is not reversed.
Go here to see Rep. McKinley’s news release on the bill and here to see the bill itself, which is H.R. 4392, “To provide that the provision of the Medicare Program: Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems and Quality Reporting Programs final regulation relating to changes in the payment amount for certain drugs and biologicals purchased under the 340B drug discount program shall have no force or effect, and for other purposes.”

PA Safety Net Admin2017-11-17T06:00:20+00:00November 17th, 2017|Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

340B Changes Would Hurt Hospital Margins

Proposed changes in the federal section 340B prescription drug discount program would hurt hospital margins.
So says Moody’s Investors Service, the credit rating agency.
According to Moody’s, the margins of non-profit hospitals are already under pressure because revenue increases are not keeping pace with prescription drug costs. Reductions of payments under the 340B program recently proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would make a challenging situation worse, Moody’s speculates.
Under the 340B program, eligible hospitals purchase prescription drugs at a discount, supply them to eligible outpatients, and use the savings they gain to provide additional services and outreach to the low-income residents of their communities.
Skeptics maintain that hospitals simply pocket the savings.
Under the regulation proposed by CMS, federal payments to 340B-eligible hospitals would be greatly reduced.
All Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals participate in the 340B program and benefit considerably for it.
Learn more about the issue and Moody’s report on the potential impact of changes in the program in this Healthcare Finance News article.

PA Safety Net Admin2017-10-10T06:00:45+00:00October 10th, 2017|Medicare, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

U.S. House Committee Looks at 340B

Are hospitals using the savings generated by their participation in the section 340B prescription drug discount program to help their low-income and uninsured patients?
That’s what the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee is asking.
Earlier this year the committee requested such information from the Health Services and Resources Administration, which runs the 340B program, and now it’s asking hospitals as well.
Specifically, the subcommittee sent five-page letters to 19 providers that participate in the 340B program asking them about:

the quantity of 340B-purchased drugs they dispense to Medicare beneficiaries, Medicaid beneficiaries, and those with private insurance
the quantity of 340B-purchased drugs they dispense to uninsured patients
their savings from the 340B program and how they calculate those savings
how much charity care they provide
how they use 340B savings to serve vulnerable populations

The letters address many other 340B-related issues as well.
Most Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals participate in the 340B program and view it as a critical tool in their ability to meet the needs of their many low-income patients.
Learn more about the Health Subcommittee’s letter by reading this news release describing this initiative and go here to view the letters the subcommittee sent to selected 340B providers.

PA Safety Net Admin2017-09-22T06:00:05+00:00September 22nd, 2017|Uncategorized|Comments Off

New 340B Rules Expected Soon

The federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is expected to release new rules governing its section 340B prescription drug discount pricing program in the near future.
The new rules have long been in development and were in the verge of being published late last year when the agency decided to try another approach to addressing some of the program’s problems, but now, new draft guidelines are being reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in anticipation of being published soon in the Federal Register.
The 340B program, which provides discounts on prescription drugs to hospitals and others that serve large numbers of low-income patients, has encountered controversy in recent years with providers complaining about the lack of transparency in drug manufacturers’ prices and the manufacturers claiming that the program’s benefits are being extended to some patients who do not qualify for the assistance.
The 340B program is a vital resource for most Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals.
To learn more about the program and what might be expected when the new rules are proposed, see this CQ HealthBeat article presented by the Commonwealth Fund.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-05-13T06:00:39+00:00May 13th, 2015|Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off

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