New Analysis Shows 340B Tax-Exempt Hospitals Provided More Than $50 Billion in Total Benefits to Their Communities

WASHINGTON, DC (March 1, 2018) – Hospitals of all kinds provide a full range of benefits to their communities.  In a new analysis released today, the American Hospital Association (AHA) spotlights how 340B tax-exempt hospitals provided more than $50 billion in total benefits to their communities in 2015 alone, the most recent year for which data is available.
 

“Savings from the 340B drug savings program allow eligible hospitals to provide a multitude of benefits to communities with a significant number of vulnerable patients,” said Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association. “These benefits go well beyond financial assistance for needy patients and include care and services such as wellness clinics, nutritional services and mental health clinics, the addition of nurses, social workers and transportation services to serve vulnerable patients and many other vital services that would otherwise be unavailable.” 

The savings from 340B discounts, which amount to less than 3% of annual drug purchases, are an important source of support for a wide range of community benefits and services and accrue directly from discounts on expensive prescription drugs and not from government funds. That is why Congress created the 340B program over 25 years ago, relying on savings from drug discounts “to stretch scarce Federal resources as far as possible, reaching more eligible patients and providing more comprehensive services.” This analysis confirms that 340B hospitals are meeting and exceeding that goal.

The full analysis can be found at www.aha.org. It was derived using information from IRS Form 990 Schedule H data and from AHA Annual Survey data. In addition, Ernst & Young (EY) confirmed that the methodology used is consistent with the approach used by EY in their prior analyses of the Form 990 Schedule H.

Contact:         Arika Trim, 202-626-2319 atrim@aha.org

                       Gabriella Valentine, 202-626-2264 gdvalentine@aha.org

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About the AHA

The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 43,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at www.aha.org.