Faces of 340B

JENNIFER ROSSI, 340B PROGRAM DIRECTOR, NORTHERN LIGHT HEALTH, ME

The 340B drug pricing program helps Northern Light Health (formerly Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems) serve many patients in a region that takes up two-thirds of the entire state of Maine. But for Jennifer Rossi, who directs the system’s 340B program, there’s just one patient care success story that will stay with her forever. Jennifer knows very well how 340B savings enable her system to offer specialty services locally, such as oncology, cardiology, and pediatric care, that patients otherwise might need to travel to another state to access. But she didn’t fully grasp just how important that is to area residents until her daughter was admitted to the hospital at 20 months old. Having crucial pediatric specialty care so close to home was a major help to the entire family during a very stressful time. Her daughter is healthy now, and Jennifer continues to be grateful that the care she received was accessible when she needed it. And it drives home just how significant a resource 340B is for Northern Light Health and other safety-net hospitals that serve largely rural areas of the country.