340B – Page 5 – DeBrunner & Associates

GAO: Feds Need Better Oversight of 340B Eligibility

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 [...]

iqtsupport2020-01-17T06:00:47-05:00January 17, 2020|340b|

CMS Chief Criticizes Health Care Proposals

In an address to the Better Medicare Alliance 2019 Medicare Advantage Summit, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma criticized Medicare for All proposals, said Medicare “public option” proposals are no better, and called the Affordable Care Act a failure,. Verma also insisted that greater reliance on market forces would improve Medicare and Medicaid, said the 340B prescription drug program is harming the health care system, and called for a reduction of federal regulations that limit how and where people can receive care. She said reduced regulations have spurred hundreds of new plans to participate in the Medicare [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-23T10:10:59-04:00July 23, 2019|340b, Affordable Care Act, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare regulations|

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|

Pressure Off 340B?

Two key House subcommittees will not hold hearings on the controversial 340B prescription drug discount program in the near future. The chairs of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee and its Health Committee have both suggested that House Democrats understand the importance and value of the 340B program and see other health care issues as greater priorities. This marks a serious departure from the last session of Congress, which saw a number of hearings on the 340B program and doubts cast about the program’s objectives and future. Learn more from the Lexology article “340B Program Gets [...]

iqtsupport2019-04-03T06:00:55-04:00April 3, 2019|340b|

Hospitals Ask Congress to Protect 340B Program

The leaders of more than 700 hospitals and health systems have written to congressional leaders to ask them to protect the section 340B prescription drug discount program. The letter states that We are concerned about recent regulatory actions that have reduced the reach of this vital program and by legislative proposals that would undo more than two decades of bipartisan work to preserve the health care safety net. The letter explains that In 2015, 340B hospitals provided $26 billion in uncompensated and unreimbursed care to low-income and rural patients in need. That represented 60 percent of all such care delivered [...]

iqtsupport2018-10-09T06:00:01-04:00October 9, 2018|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|

S&P: 340B Cuts Will Hurt

Payment cuts in the 340B prescription drug program will most likely hurt hospital financial performance, and among those most likely to be hurt are DSH hospitals, small hospitals, and rural hospitals. These are among the conclusions in a report recently issued by S&P Global Ratings. The report concludes that …the impact of the cuts to the 340B Drug Pricing Program on not-for-profit hospitals that rely on 340B drug savings will likely weaken their operating performance at a time of already tightening margins. Effective the beginning of 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services cut the 340B program 16 percent, [...]

iqtsupport2018-06-04T06:00:44-04:00June 4, 2018|340b|

The 340B Issue Explained

The section 340B prescription drug discount program has grown increasingly controversial in recent years. The program, established in the 1990s to help hospitals with the cost of the prescription drugs they provide to low-income patients on an outpatient basis, has grown considerably since its inception. Pharmaceutical companies argue that it is too large, that it contributes to the growing cost of prescription drugs, and that hospitals are not using the savings they reap from the program to serve more low-income patients, as was envisioned when Congress created the program. Eligible providers, on the other hand, note that much of the [...]

iqtsupport2018-05-16T06:00:51-04:00May 16, 2018|340b|

New Bill Proposes Greater 340B Accountability

A new bill proposed last week by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) seeks to foster greater accountability among participants in the federal government’s section 340B prescription drug discount program. The three-page bill is called the Ensuring the Value of the 340B Program Act of 2018, and according to a news release from the senator, its purpose is to require …participating hospitals to report the total acquisition costs for drugs collected through the 340B program, as well as revenues received from all third party papers for those same drugs. The 340B program provides discounts on prescription drugs dispensed on an outpatient basis [...]

iqtsupport2018-03-06T06:00:51-05:00March 6, 2018|340b|