The Value of Protecting the 340B Program for Patients and Providers: A Perspective from the Field
For three decades, the 340B drug pricing program has enabled hospitals that serve high numbers of low-income patient populations to stretch scarce federal resources and provide more comprehensive care to their patients and communities. The program, which has enjoyed strong bipartisan support, does not cost taxpayers a dime. Instead, the program is subsidized by drug companies, which are required to sell certain outpatient drugs at a discount to eligible providers. These discounts help hospitals provide critical programs and services to their patients such as medication therapy management, diabetes education and counseling, and mobile treatment clinics for rural areas. Ask any hospital in the 340B program and they’ll tell you it’s done a great deal of good for the patients and communities they care for. Which is why current efforts by drug companies to reduce the program’s scope are so alarming. In this podcast, an AHA policy expert explores the value of the 340B drug pricing program and the negative impact that efforts to scale back the program have had on patients and providers with a hospital administrator for whom the 340B program has served as a critical resource in their ability to serve patients.