Hospital groups urge court to stop 340B payment cut

The AHA joined by the Association of American Medical Colleges and America’s Essential Hospitals today will urge a federal court to prevent the Department of Health and Human Services from reducing Medicare payments under the 340B drug savings program by nearly 30% effective Jan. 1. In a brief to be filed today in reply to the agency’s motion to dismiss their lawsuit challenging the reduction, the hospital groups say the payment cut “far exceeds” HHS’s authority to adjust the reimbursement rate and warrants a preliminary injunction to prevent “imminent” and “actual” harm to their members. Thirty-two state and regional hospital associations also today will urge the court in a friend-of-the-court brief to grant the preliminary injunction, arguing that the estimated $1.6 billion cut “will have devastating consequences for safety-net providers and the millions of patients they serve.”