Survey brief: drug companies reduce patients’ access to care by limiting 340B community pharmacies
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Alternate Title(s):
- Drug companies reduce patients’ access to care by limiting 340B community pharmacies
- Contributor(s):
- American Hospital Association, issuing body.
- Publication:
- [Washington, D.C.] : American Hospital Association, November 2022
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Community Pharmacy Services -- legislation & jurisprudence Drug Costs -- legislation & jurisprudence Drug Industry -- legislation & jurisprudence Economics, Pharmaceutical Health Services Accessibility United States 340B Drug Pricing Program (U.S.)
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- In 1992, Congress created the 340B Drug Pricing Program to allow providers that treat high numbers of uninsured and low-income patients the ability to purchase certain outpatient drugs at discounted prices and use those savings to “stretch scarce federal resources as far as possible, reaching more eligible patients and providing more comprehensive services.” For 30 years, the program has been a critical lifeline for many eligible providers and their patients, especially in the face of chronic underpayments from Medicare and Medicaid. However, within the last several years, the program has come under a new threat by Big Pharma that only serves to benefit their bottomlines at the expense of patients and providers. In July 2020, in violation of federal law, six drug companies announced their decision to end discounted pricing to 340B hospitals for arrangements established with community and specialty pharmacies. These federally authorized arrangements between 340B hospitals and community and specialty pharmacies are a critical component of the 340B program that allows providers to expand access to many drugs--including those used to treat rare and complex conditions such as some cancers--for the patients and communities they serve. In particular, these arrangements improve access by allowing both hospitals and pharmacies to coordinate care and ensure that drugs needed by the patients cared for by 340B hospitals are available to them at their local pharmacy. In response to the unlawful actions by drug companies for failing to provide discounts through community pharmacies, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which oversees the 340B program, exercised its authority to refer these companies to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to impose civil monetary penalties. Several drug companies then filed lawsuits challenging the government’s authority to enforce penalties against them citing that the law did not require them to offer discounts through these authorized arrangements with community pharmacies. In the face of these ongoing legal proceedings, more drug companies have ended their discounted pricing to providers. As of October 2022, 18 drug companies have adopted these restrictive policies to the severe detriment of 340B hospitals and their patients. The AHA has supported HRSA in its efforts to enforce the requirements for drug companies set forth in the 340B statute.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (5 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918523085306676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918523085306676