Senators Focus on Hospital Drug Discount Program; Safety-net Hospitals Say 340B Program Fills a Crucial Need

The 340B discount program for prescription drugs used by safety-net hospitals needs better government oversight, several watchdog agency officials said at a Senate hearing. Although the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which oversees the program, has taken some important steps to improve oversight, “a number of important issues remain,” said Debra Draper, PhD, director…

Federal Watchdogs Urge More Oversight of Drug Discount Program

Officials from two federal watchdogs told a Senate committee Tuesday that a drug discount program for hospitals needs additional transparency and oversight to effectively monitor participants. The so-called 340B program, which allows safety net hospitals access to discounted drugs for providing uncompensated care, has become a flashpoint between drug manufacturers that claim providers drive up prices by…

Don’t Stop Discount Prescriptions

Community health centers such as First Choice Health Centers in East Hartford, Manchester and Vernon provide consistent, preventive care that keeps people healthy and productive, regardless of ability to pay. We keep our patients from making costly emergency room visits for non-emergency issues, and provide cost-effective behavioral health, primary care and dental care. One vital…

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Member Ken Yeager Discuss Benefits of 340B

The Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (VMC) and the County’s entire health and hospital system are facing a potentially catastrophic loss of funding under a pair of proposals currently being considered in Sacramento and Washington. The amount of money at stake ranges from $60 million a year to potentially more than $130 million. The funding…

Our Rural Hospitals and Clinics are Under Attack

Right now, policy developments in Washington, D.C., are placing rural North Dakota hospitals and other healthcare providers at significant risk of shutting down, choking off healthcare access for thousands of patients in rural communities who have few other options. In January, an agency in Washington, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, issued a troublesome…

People Benefit from 340B Drug Program

The soaring cost of prescription drugs threatens access to life-saving medications for millions of people across the country and thousands of Hoosiers here at home. For these vulnerable patients, safety net health care providers — supported by the 340B Drug Pricing Program — make all the difference. Established in 1992, the 340B program requires pharmaceutical…