Faces of 340B

JESSICA LARSEN-GALLUP, DIRECTOR, PHARMACY BUSINESS & ANALYTICS, AVERA MCKENNAN HOSPITAL & UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTER, SD

Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center is one of 25 hospitals participating in 340B in the Avera Health System, which serves patients in South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Jessica Larsen-Gallup, who directs the hospital’s pharmacy, notes that her hospital has used its savings to expand critical services in its community to ensure patients do not have to travel far to receive specialty care. This includes oncology care as well as liver and bone marrow transplants, for which the next nearest health system that offers the procedure is four-and-a-half hours away. 340B savings recently helped Avera McKennan open an addiction care center to help meet its community’s need for treating substance use disorders. The center will use a variety of evidence-based treatment approaches. These are just some of the many examples of how 340B allows safety-net providers to offer important specialty care close to patients’ homes. Jessica is concerned, however, that cuts to 340B could threaten the existence of these expanded services.