Statement of 340B Health Regarding the “Ensuring the Value of the 340B Program Act”
Washington, D.C.—This legislation focuses on only one narrow data point of the 340B drug pricing program and ignores the care and services provided by 340B hospitals to underserved patients across the country. The bill seeks to require the reporting of certain elements to assess the “benefit” that a hospital realizes by participating in the 340B program. However, hospitals’ savings in the 340B program are determined by comparing what the hospital paid for medications by using the 340B program against what it would have paid in the absence of the program. Further, the information the legislation seeks would paint an incomplete and inaccurate picture of how 340B enables hospitals to meet the purpose of the program – to “stretch scarce federal resources as far as possible, reaching more eligible patients and providing more comprehensive services.”
The 340B program is one of the nation’s most effective federal programs and works as Congress intended. It reduces the cost of prescription drugs to hospitals, clinics and health systems that serve low-income and rural patients and, as a result, hospitals and other providers are able to continue their mission to provide care to all regardless of ability to pay. Thus we are concerned that the legislation could threaten access to needed care for patients who rely on 340B providers. Since its enactment, 25 years ago, the 340B program has enjoyed strong, bipartisan support in Congress. We continue to urge lawmakers to come together to discuss the best ways to strengthen the 340B program while not harming the very providers who serve our most vulnerable patient populations.
Contact: Richard Sorian at richard.sorian@340bhealth.org or 202-536-2285.