Providers March to Capitol Hill for Second
Straight Year to ‘Defend 340B’
July 13, 2023 William Newton
Read the full article: Providers March to Capitol Hill for Second Straight Year to Defend 340B reprint excerpt. Excerpted by Permission of 340B Report.
On a sunny, humid, 92-degree afternoon in Washington, D.C., over 50 safety-
net health care providers marched to the U.S. Capitol grounds yesterday to
raise awareness of threats to the 340B drug pricing program.
The demonstrators, which included representatives from critical access
hospitals, health centers, and Ryan White clinics, among others, carried signs
and chanted slogans such as “public health, not pharma wealth.” Community
Voices for 340B (CV340B), a self-described grassroots/grasstops nonprofit
group based in Washington, D.C., organized the demonstration for the second
straight year.
Marchers wearing “Defend 340B” t-shirts left for the Capitol in buses from the
340B Coalition summer conference in National Harbor, Md., just outside of
Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, members of hospital group 340B Health
wearing business attire left to lobby members of Congress. Though most
demonstrators had attended the 340B Coalition conference, which ended
shortly before the march began, the CV340B demonstration was not affiliated
with 340B Health or the 340B Coalition.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s boisterous pro-340B demonstrations are
iconic. For others in the 340B provider community, protest marches are a
departure from typical advocacy work. During the march, Rhiannon Marshall
Klein, national advocacy manager of CV340B, told demonstrators they could
support those lobbying for the 340B program in Congress by showing
politicians the program’s wide base of support.
Klein told 340B Report that CV340B prides itself on its diverse base of support
from all types of 340B covered entities. “CV340B is the only place in the
nation right now where hospitals, health centers, Ryan White clinics, STD
clinics are all in one place talking,” she said. “That’s very powerful.”
Klein said that yesterday’s march largely had the same goal of the group’s first
march in August 2022, adding that there could be more impact this year
because Congress was not in session during last year’s demonstration.
Three members of the Virginia Community Healthcare Association, which
represents 30 health centers with over 182 locations in the state, were among
the marchers yesterday. “We are here to help save this program because if
we do not have 340B, our health centers cannot sustain or survive,” said
Tracy Douglas, CEO of VCHA. “We need our legislators to hear from us.”
Also in attendance was David Lee, a pharmacist at Electra Memorial Hospital
in Texas who was in Washington for the first time. Electra is a critical access
hospital and 340B covered entity serving three large counties in rural Northern
Texas.
“I’m doing the march because the manufacturer restrictions are really scary,”
Lee said, referring to 24 brand drug companies’ 340B contract pharmacy
policies. “I’m afraid if we lose the 340B program, we will not be able to take
care of a lot of the patients that normally are unable to afford healthcare.”
Tom Siegmeth, who said he has worked with federally qualified health centers
and Ryan White clinics for over two decades, echoed concerns about contract
pharmacy restrictions. “Grant funding is very limited throughout the Ryan
White world, so additional funding through the 340B program allows covered
entities to provide retention specialists, patient navigators, and other critical
services that fill in the gaps for underserved communities,” Siegmeth said.
“Contract pharmacy restrictions have put Ryan White clinics and federally
qualified health centers that rely on 340B funding in a very precarious
position.”
Julia Garcia, program manager at Hope and Health Center of Central Florida,
was another marcher. She said the 340B program helps her clinic, which
specializes in sexually transmitted disease and HIV treatments, provide
patients with medications and other assistance like housing, food, and
transportation services.
“Funding from the 340B program is crucial to our organization, especially
being a non-profit,” Garcia said. “I feel it’s my responsibility to promote and be
an advocate for the 340B program, and that’s why I’m doing this march.”
