December 16, 2014—The database that the Health Resources and Services Administration maintains to protect drugmakers from paying both 340B discounts and Medicaid rebates on the same drugs applies only to Medicaid fee-for-service and not to Medicaid managed care claims, HRSA clarified yesterday in an updated 340B policy release. … [Read more...]
Archives for December 2014
The Top Ten 340B Stories of 2014
Regulations were our readers' leading preoccupationDecember 16, 2014—For the 340B community, 2014 will go down as the year that a federal court invalidated the 340B orphan drug exclusion regulation, derailing the long-awaited 340B "mega-reg" plus other program regulations in the works. … [Read more...]
Spending Bill’s Report Contains 340B Directives
Appropriators address ceiling price availability, patients' access to savingsDecember 10, 2014—House and Senate appropriators agreed yesterday on a $1.1 trillion fiscal 2015 federal spending bill with report language about the 340B program. Congress has yet to vote on the measure. … [Read more...]
340B Addressed During House Hearing on Health Spending
Health panel's chair asks if it's time to re-evaluate programDecember 10, 2014—The chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee asked during a hearing yesterday whether the 340B program should be re-evaluated. … [Read more...]
How is the Drug Industry Doing These Days?
The drug industry and its surrogates love to repeat the ridiculous line that the 340B drug discount program "is being exploited by rich hospitals to boost their bottom lines." Drug companies, they claim, are "incurring heavy losses from 340B abuse," as one drug company apologist recently put it. SNHPA has created an infographic that sets the record straight. It compares the … [Read more...]
340B Proposed Regulations Penciled in for April and September
The first is on pricing and manufacturer sanctions, second is on dispute resolutionDecember 3, 2014—The Health Resources and Services Administration plans to publish two 340B program regulations next year, one in April and the other in September, according to the federal government's latest agenda of upcoming regulatory actions. … [Read more...]
New Study on Underinsurance Underscores 340B’s Importance
Drugmakers and others who want the 340B program to disappear sometimes argue there's less need for the drug discounts in the post-Obamacare era. New research shows why they're wrong. Underinsurance in America is growing, as non-elderly adults are paying more out-of-pocket for private health insurance, a new Commonwealth Fund study finds. What's more, the problem is most acute … [Read more...]