340B HEALTH STATEMENT ON CMS PROPOSED 2019 OPPS RULE
“Proposal would make a bad rule worse”
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 25, 2018—We are deeply disappointed that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed continuing and expanding the drastic payment reductions to 340B hospitals for Medicare Part B drugs. Today’s proposal would threaten access to care for millions of patients who live with low incomes or in rural communities.
In 2018, CMS slashed $1.6 billion from Medicare outpatient drug payments to many 340B hospitals, a reduction of nearly 30 percent. CMS now plans to make a bad rule worse by extending the cuts to drugs provided in certain off-campus hospital clinics, including facilities providing infusion therapy for cancer patients and other high-cost drug therapies to treat chronic and life threatening conditions.
Two hundred members of the U.S. House of Representatives from both political parties have supported legislation (H.R.4392) to roll back the 2018 cuts and block CMS from making such reductions in the future. We urge CMS to withdraw this latest proposal before it causes additional harm.
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