The federal government needs to do a better job of ensuring that non-government hospital participants in the 340B prescription drug discount program are eligible for that program, the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded in a recent report.
With growing numbers of non-government hospitals now participating in the 340B program, the GAO found that the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, which oversees the program, is not doing enough to ensure that these hospitals meet the criteria for inclusion in the program. In particular, the GAO found, HRSA needs to do more to ensure that such hospitals have valid contracts with state or local governments to care for low-income patients who qualify for 340B assistance with the cost of prescription drugs. In particular, the GAO believes HRSA relies too much on hospitals’ own attestations that they have such contracts.
The GAO recommended a number of steps to ensure that hospitals truly are eligible to participate in the 340B program, including better and more frequent review of hospitals’ contracts with state or local governments.
Learn more about the problems the GAO found with HRSA’s management of non-government hospitals’ eligibility for the 340B program and how it recommends that HRSA address those problems in the GAO report “340B Drug Discount Program: Increased Oversight Needed to Ensure Nongovernmental Hospitals Meet Eligibility Requirements