The American Hospital Association last week announced 340B drug program “good stewardship principles.”
The 340B program was created to provide drug discounts to hospitals and clinics serving low-income patients. Under the 340B program, manufacturers of prescription drugs, as a condition of having their outpatient drugs covered through Medicaid, are required to offer 340B hospitals and clinics outpatient drugs at or below a set ceiling price. The AHA and other hospital groups are contesting a drastic 30% cut to the 340B program that CMS made this year. AHA also filed suit to compel the Trump administration to implement Obama-era regulations to address 340B drug pricing calculations and to impose penalties on drug manufacturers that overcharged providers.
While those cases move forward, AHA released the stewardship guidelines to cover three issues: committing hospitals to annually publish a narrative showing how the 340B program benefits the community; publicly disclosing on an annual basis the savings achieved through 340B; and continuing to conduct internal reviews to ensure each hospital’s 340B program meets the program’s rules.
Read the full stewardship document here.