340B prescription drug discount program

Federal Health Policy Update for December 12

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for December 6-12. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress Funding the Federal Government With funding for the federal government set to expire in eight days, Congress is still negotiating the details of the next continuing resolution. Speaker Johnson has indicated that the next continuing resolution will extend until an unspecified date in March. Last week, the House majority and House minority exchanged proposals for additional items to include in the next continuing resolution and both parties listed health care extenders – [...]

joe2024-12-12T16:16:50-05:00December 12, 2024|340b, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, Congress, COVID-19, Federal Update, hospitals, Medicaid, Medicaid disproportionate share, Medicaid DSH, Medicaid DSH allotments, Medicare, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy|

FEDERAL HEALTH POLICY UPDATE FOR November 3

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for the week of October 31 to November 3. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Medicare Payment Regulations In the past week CMS has published four regulations presenting how it will pay providers in the coming year. Outpatient prospective payment system – CMS announced a 3.8 percent increase for Medicare outpatient and ambulatory surgical payments. It also adopted its proposal to establish rural emergency hospitals as a new kind of hospital provider; removed 11 surgical procedures from its inpatient-only list and authorized [...]

iqtsupport2022-11-03T17:41:10-04:00November 3, 2022|340b, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, COVID-19, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicare, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, Telehealth|

Federal Health Policy Update for Tuesday, March 22

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government as of 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 22. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Provider Relief Fund As of March 22 at 11:59 p.m. (eastern) the HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration) COVID-19 Uninsured Program will stop accepting claims for testing and treatment due to lack of funds and on April 5 at 11:59 p.m. (eastern) the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program and COVID-19 Coverage Assistance Fund will stop accepting vaccination claims due to a lack of funds. HRSA has released additional information [...]

iqtsupport2022-03-22T20:50:28-04:00March 22, 2022|340b, Accountable Care Organization, ACO, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, health equity, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, Medicare reimbursement policy, Telehealth|

New Web Site Shows Maximum 340B Prices

Providers can now see the maximum prices for 340B-covered drugs on a new web site established by the federal Health Resources & Services Administration. The web site, mandated by Congress after the U.S. Department of Health and Services’ Inspector General found that some providers are being overcharged, will enable 340B-eligible providers to identify the maximum price they can be charged for covered drugs. This, HRSA believes, will help providers avoid being overcharged in the future. Learn more in the Becker’s Hospital Review article “HRSA launches 340B ceiling price website” and visit the new web site itself (registration required).

iqtsupport2019-04-05T09:34:14-04:00April 5, 2019|340b|

New Reg Pushes Medicare Toward Site-Neutral Outpatient Payments

Medicare would make more payments for outpatient services on a site-neutral basis under a newly proposed regulation just released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The 2019 Medicare outpatient prospective payment system regulation, published in proposal form, calls for: paying physician fee schedule rates rather than hospital outpatient rates at excepted off-campus provider-based departments; slashing payments for office visits; extending this year’s 340B prescription drug discount payments, already cut nearly 30 percent this year, to additional providers; and raising ambulatory surgical center rates and expanding the list of procedures that can be performed in such facilities so they [...]

iqtsupport2018-07-27T06:00:18-04:00July 27, 2018|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, hospitals, Medicare, Medicare regulations|

GAO Recommends Changes in Oversight of 340B Program

The federal Government Accountability Office is recommending that the Department of Health and Human Services improve its oversight of the 340B prescription drug discount program. That program was created by Congress to help safety-net providers obtain discounts on prescription drugs they dispense to low-income patients on an outpatient basis. Those discounts are provided by pharmaceutical companies and not paid for with taxpayer money. The 340B program has been controversial in recent years, and in response to a request from Congress for the GAO to look into the contract pharmacies that operate the 340B programs for many safety-net providers, the GAO [...]

iqtsupport2018-07-02T06:00:12-04:00July 2, 2018|340b|

Senate Committee Looks at 340B Program

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) held a hearing last week on the 340B prescription drug discount program. The hearing was prompted by complaints from pharmaceutical companies about the discounts they are required to provide to eligible providers and by concern that hospitals are insufficiently accountable for how they use the savings they derive from those discounts to serve their low-income patients. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently reduced its Medicare payments to participating hospitals. During the hearing, Senate Republicans expressed support for the program but spoke of the need for greater transparency [...]

iqtsupport2018-03-22T06:00:56-04:00March 22, 2018|340b, hospitals|

Leave 340B Alone, CMS Advisory Group Says

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should not significantly reduce Medicare payments for some prescription drugs. Or so says one of CMS’s own advisory panels. The agency’s Advisory Panel on Outpatient Prospective Payment reached this conclusion after listening to testimony from hospital industry stakeholders who told of the savings the federal government’s 340B prescription drug discount program produces and how those savings enable hospitals in low-income areas to help low-income patients who would not otherwise be able to afford their drugs and help improve access to care for low-income patients with very limited health care options. The panel’s recommendation [...]

iqtsupport2017-09-01T06:00:14-04:00September 1, 2017|Medicare, Medicare regulations|

Congress Looks at 340B Program

Last week the House Energy and Commerce Committee took a look at the 340B prescription drug discount program, which requires pharmaceutical companies to sell discounted drugs for outpatient use to hospitals that care for especially large numbers of low-income patients. The previous week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a proposed Medicare regulation calling for significant reductions in Medicare payments for such drugs. The hearing touched on the CMS proposal to reduce Medicare payments for 340B drugs, the high prices of prescription drugs, the 340B program’s growth over the years, the possibility that the program is being abused [...]

iqtsupport2017-07-24T06:00:44-04:00July 24, 2017|Medicare, Medicare regulations|