Hospitals Rally to Defend 340B

A consortium of hospitals from across the country has delivered a letter to Congressional leaders, urging them to preserve the federal 340B program in its present form.  Neither the content nor the timing of the letter was surprising.  It was dated May 20—the day before the House Energy & Commerce Committee was scheduled to consider H.R. 6, the 21st Century Cures legislation, which may contain language weakening the 340B program.

The program has been around since 1992 and has generally enjoyed bipartisan support.  The essence of the program is the requirement that pharmaceutical manufacturers provide discounts on covered drugs purchased by safety-net hospitals.  Many manufacturers complain that hospitals often benefit from the discounts, even when purchasing drugs that don’t find their way to safety-net patients.

The letter, signed by leaders of some 524 hospitals and health systems, calls the 340B program vital to serving indigents.  It points out that 340B hospitals serve over twice as many low-income patients and shoulder nearly twice the uncompensated care costs of hospitals outside the program.

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