Faces of 340B

Dorsie Sullenger, Director of Pharmacy, Madison Memorial Hospital, ID

Madison Memorial Hospital is a county-owned facility that provides needed primary and specialty care for its community without relying on any additional funding from the taxpayers. Part of how it can do that is through the savings it realizes from the 340B program. Dorsie Sullenger, the hospital’s director of pharmacy, notes that the hospital has used the savings to help make several needed but costly care improvements, such as launching an oncology program, installing smart-pump technology, and implementing medication bar coding at the bedside. All of this furthers the hospital’s mission of providing professional and compassionate care to “every patient, every time.” Through 340B, Madison Memorial realizes about $3 million in savings every year. If this resource were to go away, the hospital would be about $2.5 million in the red. That would force it to make difficult choices about which services, technology, or staff would need to be eliminated.