340B HOSPITALS ARE INTEGRAL TO THE EFFORT TO PURSUE HEALTH EQUITY
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Hospitals participating in the 340B drug pricing program are leaders of the national efforts to combat racial and ethnic health disparities and build a more equitable health care system in the U.S. 340B hospitals provide more care to populations that historically have been medically underserved, including people who are Black/African American and patients living with low incomes, in rural communities, and with disabilities. A new report from 340B Health profiles nine of these leading safety-net hospitals and health systems that are working in pursuit of health equity for all the communities they serve:
- Atrium Health, Charlotte, N.C.
- Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
- Henry Ford Health System, Detroit
- Rush University System for Health, Chicago
- St. Louis Children’s Hospital, St. Louis
- Sutter Health System, Sacramento, Calif.
- Trinity Health, Livonia, Mich.
- UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Mass.
- Virginia Mason Memorial, Yakima, Wash.
Each of these hospitals and systems has a set of health equity goals and actions tailored to their communities, but their pursuit of equity shares common elements that will be of interest to other hospitals expanding their equity work. 340B hospitals are:
- Increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of their leadership and expanding cultural competency and implicit bias training for their workforces;
- Screening patients for social determinants of health (SDoH) and connecting patients to food, transportation, employment, and housing resources through community partners;
- Collecting data on patient health outcomes by race, ethnicity, and primary language and analyzing those data to identify health disparities and measure progress toward eliminating them; and
- Improving access to COVID-19 testing and treatment for patient communities that disproportionately have been affected by the pandemic.
“I’m enormously proud of the work these hospitals are putting into pursuing equity in care and health,” said 340B Health President and CEO Maureen Testoni. “This is a national priority and 340B hospitals are providing leadership by example. The goal of this report is to provide hospitals with models to consider as they tackle this complex but vital work.”
The savings that these hospitals receive through 340B drug discounts are central to their health equity work. The 340B program helps ensure access to care in underserved areas, funds mobile care units and outreach, provides access to low-cost medications that enable patients to follow their treatment regimens, funds interpretation services, and makes it possible to offer vital but under-reimbursed services, such as behavioral health and addiction services as well as HIV/AIDS care.
We thank the leaders at the nine profiled hospitals for participating in this report and for their work to achieve their care missions for all their patients.
Read the report and see our infographic summarizing the key findings.
CORRECTION: Earlier versions of this release and report misstated the full name of Rush University System for Health.
Contact: Richard Sorian at richard.sorian@340bhealth.org or 202-536-2285.