Virginia’s Community Health Centers depend on savings from the 340B Drug Discount Program to underwrite the cost of serving patients – the 340B program support is especially crucial for services like prenatal and OB care.
The 340B Drug Discount Program requires drug manufacturers to provide certain medications at a discounted price to eligible non-profit healthcare providers, like community health centers. The savings health centers receive from these discounts enable them to stretch their scarce resources as far as possible, reaching more eligible patients and providing additional services. The savings they receive because of 340B often fund services and staff to help close gaps in care, such as pharmacists and dental and behavioral health. For over 30 years, the 340B program has consistently helped health centers meet their communities’ unique public health needs.
Unfortunately, over thirty drug manufacturers are currently using loopholes to restrict healthcare providers’ access to the 340B discount, redirecting the savings into big pharma’s back pocket.
Virginia Community Healthcare Association (VCHA), the primary care association representing Virginia’s community health center network, is an integral part of Virginia’s health safety net. As a non-profit membership organization, VCHA supports and advocates for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in the Commonwealth. They see firsthand how the 340B program is essential to ensuring the Commonwealth of Virginia has the healthiest population in America – especially in providing comprehensive and affordable OB care across Virginia.
Due to the increasing abuse of access limiting shipping restrictions on the 340B program from drug manufacturers, OB care has been negatively impacted at two FQHCs in Virginia – Piedmont Access to Health Services, in rural Danville, VA and Southeastern Virginia Health System, located in Chesapeake/Newport News, Virginia.
The Need for OB Care in Virginia is Immense
We think these numbers speak for themselves:
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Approximately 95,000 to 100,000 babies are born in Virginia each year.
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In Virginia in 2023, 1 in 5 women who gave birth received inadequate prenatal care.
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In 2021, about 1 in 12 women of childbearing age (8.3%) was uninsured in Virginia.
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In 2022, there were an estimated 67,000 uninsured children in Virginia.
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Single mothers in Virginia are more likely to be uninsured than mothers in two-parent households.
Ready to act now? Send a message to your policymaker today asking them to #Defend340B.
Don’t let Big Pharma shrink the program, helping Virginians access affordable healthcare – especially the OB care they need and are at risk of losing.
More About VCHA
Virginia Community Healthcare Association (VCHA), established in 1980, is a non-profit membership organization that serves as the primary care association for Virginia’s community health centers and look-alike health centers. VCHA’s mission is to advocate on behalf of, educate and elevate our member health centers by enhancing their ability to provide affordable, accessible, quality healthcare to the communities they serve regardless of their ability to pay. For more information, visit www.vcha.org
More On How 340B Works
First established in 1992 through bipartisan legislation, the federal 340B drug discount program operates on the simple principle of requiring drug companies to provide drugs at a discounted price to certain types of non profit hospitals and clinics that, in turn, use their 340B savings to provide affordable healthcare in their communities. That reinvestment in patients and communities without taxpayer dollars has made the 340B program successful.
Without a significant and sustained effort to raise public awareness of the 340B program’s benefits, the program faces an uncertain future. Providers and their healthcare industry supporters have worked to defend the 340B program, recognizing its actual value in providing patients with affordable care, but they need YOUR help.