Latest news with #340BDrugPricingProgram
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca sues Utah Attorney General over discount medication law
SALT LAKE CITY () — The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has filed a federal lawsuit against Utah Attorney General Derek Brown and Utah Insurance Commissioner Jon Pike over a recent law that is intended to allow more pharmacies to have access to drug discount programs. In a lawsuit filed May 23, AstraZeneca alleges that Utah SB 69 is unconstitutional. The law was introduced and passed in the 2025 General Assembly, and it went into effect on May 7. The law prohibits drug manufacturers from restricting pharmacies from working with 340B entities, which help pharmacies and patients access medications at a discounted price. Senator Lee responds to the Trump-Musk feud The 340B Drug Pricing Program is a that 'enables covered entities to stretch scarce federal resources as far as possible, reaching more eligible patients and providing more comprehensive services,' according to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) website. It means that drug manufacturers participating in Medicaid agree to provide 'outpatient drugs to covered entities at significantly reduced prices.' All organizations need to be registered and enrolled in the 340B program in order to purchase discounted medications. The law that established the 340B Program, Section 340B(a)(4) of the Public Health Service Act, specified certain types of for the program, such as medical centers that serve rural and other underserved communities and clinics that specialize in particular diseases like HIV/AIDS. SB 69 expands the scope, requiring drug manufacturers to provide the discounts to third-party pharmacies that are contracting with 340B entities, and this is what AstraZeneca is claiming is unconstitutional in its lawsuit. Utah House Republicans elect new leadership members The lawsuit states that because price controls 'disincentivize innovation and destabilize markets,' Congress chose to specifically limit the types of organizations that are eligible in Section 340B. The suit notes that for-profit pharmacies like Walgreens or CVS were not included as eligible, and there have already been several federal court cases ruling that block efforts to require drug manufacturers to provide discounts to contracted pharmacies. AstraZeneca claims in its suit that SB 69 'requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to offer 340B-discounted pricing for sales at an unlimited number of contract pharmacies,' expanding 340B discounts to 'an entirely new category of transactions not covered by Section 340B itself.' The suit alleges that SB 69 directly conflicts with federal law requirements, and therefore, it cannot be enforced against Astrazeneca or other drug manufacturers. AstraZeneca is asking the court to declare SB 69 unconstitutional and to order that Utah AG Derek Brown and Insurance Commissioner Jon Pike not enforce the law against AstraZeneca. Musk floats 'The American Party' after Trump tiff Myths VS Facts: What health officials want you to know about the MMR vaccine Good4Utah Road Tour: Willard Bay State Park Lori Vallow Daybell back in court, charged with conspiracy to murder ex nephew-in-law Man charged with assault for allegedly attacking and strangling neighbor Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Int'l Business Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
At No Cost to Federal Government a Lifeline for America's Communities
As the U.S. healthcare system wrestles with rising costs and deepening disparities, one federal program quietly continues to serve as a financial and clinical lifeline for millions of Americans: the 340B Drug Pricing Program. Since its inception in 1992, 340B has enabled safety net hospitals, community health centers, and other providers to purchase outpatient medications at reduced prices. These savings aren't about boosting bottom lines—they're about keeping doors open, expanding access to care, and delivering essential services for all. At its heart, 340B is about getting medicine—and the healthcare services needed to ensure their safe and effective use—to people who otherwise might go without it. It empowers hospitals that serve high numbers of uninsured and modest-income patients, as well as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Ryan White clinics that reach the working poor. The savings realized under 340B are not pocketed. These providers invest funds directly into programs that offer mental health services, treat substance use disorders, fund mobile clinics, and support chronic disease management. In many cases, access to the 340B program is the determining factor in whether a provider can afford to keep its pharmacy open to serve those who would otherwise go without treatment. The 340B program is a small program with big benefits. The discounts provided account for only 3% of drug companies' global revenues . At the same time, drug price increases continue to rise faster than inflation. In the United States, where drug companies already benefit from federally supported insurance programs and drug prices that are over three times higher than the rest of OECD countries, the 340B program is a reasonable accommodation to meet their obligations to be good corporate citizens. While the impact of the 340B program on drug companies is minimal, the impact on health is significant. Take community health centers, for example. These organizations are often the only providers in rural towns or urban neighborhoods. With the help of 340B, they can offer sliding scale fees, reach out to patients who are unhoused or living in poverty, and provide preventive care and health screenings that are crucial in addressing rising healthcare costs. For diseases like diabetes, 340B drug pricing ensures access to both medications as well as the patient education and healthcare provider services needed to effectively manage a complex chronic condition. In short, they make health more than a buzzword—they make it real. Hospitals also depend on 340B to sustain emergency rooms, neonatal intensive care units, and oncology programs. Small rural hospitals in particular often rely on these savings to remain operational. When one of these facilities shuts down, the consequences are immediate and severe: longer travel times for urgent care, delayed treatments, and a deeper strain on already stressed healthcare systems. Despite its impact, 340B has come under fire from some in the pharmaceutical industry and others who argue the program is being misused or lacks sufficient oversight. While oversight improvements are a worthy discussion, such criticisms ignore the real-world pressures providers face: skyrocketing drug prices, declining reimbursements, and the increasing demand for services as the population ages and grows more medically complex. Along with reasonable reforms that support program integrity, it's time to make common sense changes to reduce the regulatory burden on providers and let them focus on their main job—delivering high-quality health care to all. In the current budgetary environment, maintaining the 340B program is more important than ever. The program doesn't add to the federal budget. Instead, it gives healthcare providers the means to stretch existing resources further—just as Congress intended. Reducing or eliminating the 340B program to increase the profit of global pharmaceutical companies would shift costs to patients while simultaneously putting additional strains on state and federal budgets at the worst possible time. Undermining the 340B program would not just threaten individual institutions—it would unravel an already fragile health infrastructure. The people most affected would be those with the fewest options: modest and low-wage workers, rural residents, and those without insurance. The 340B program is a critical bridge between affordability and access, between policy and people. While reforms of the program may be useful, it is imperative they be guided with an overarching goal of improving how the program works for patients, not of providing a windfall for pharmaceutical manufacturers, who have experienced record profits since the program's inception. Weakening the 340B program would be short-sighted and harmful. Strengthening it is a fiscal imperative—for hospitals, clinics, and all communities. Author: Jane L. Delgado, Ph.D., M.S., is a highly esteemed and in-demand analyst and thought leader. She is the President and CEO of an NGO, Healthy Americas Foundation (HAF). She sits on the boards of the U.S. Soccer Foundation (Chair, Audit), McLean Hospital (Belmont, MA), the National Biodefense Science Advisory Board, the Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute (Investment Committee), and Argonne National Labs (Chair, Compensation).
Business Wire
12-05-2025
- Health
- Business Wire
Global Healthy Living Foundation Takes National 340B Reform and Transparency Briefing To New York
UPPER NYACK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Steven Newmark, Chief Legal and Policy Officer of the Global Healthy Living Foundation (GHLF), takes the organization's national 340B reform message to a policy briefing in Albany, NY, on May 13, addressing the national implications of unchecked expansion of the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program — a critical but increasingly controversial tool designed to support healthcare access for underserved populations. 'The 340B program is a lifeline when it works as intended — but without oversight, it risks becoming a loophole instead of a safety net.' Newmark will join lawmakers, academic experts, and fellow advocates to urge greater transparency and accountability in how hospitals and other healthcare institutions use the steep drug discounts they receive under 340B. While originally intended to help vulnerable patients afford essential medications, the program has come under scrutiny for allowing covered entities to pocket savings without passing them along to patients. 'The 340B program is a lifeline when it works as intended — but without oversight, it risks becoming a loophole instead of a safety net,' said Newmark. 'We need reform before expansion. Patients, not institutions, should be the primary beneficiaries.' As it has in other states, GHLF, a national nonprofit that advocates for people living with chronic illness, is raising concerns about proposed legislation in New York (S.1913 / A.7789) that would make it easier to expand 340B eligibility to additional entities without requiring clear patient benefit or public accountability. The Foundation has issued a memorandum in opposition, warning that such policies may incentivize profit-seeking behavior at the expense of patient care — a trend already observed across multiple states. The May 13 policy forum, co-hosted by Assemblymember Amanda Septimo and the Community Liver Alliance, comes amid growing national debate about the future of 340B. Lawmakers in Congress have also introduced bills to audit and modernize the program, reflecting a bipartisan understanding that reform is needed to preserve the program's original mission. Why It Matters Nationally More than $50 billion in drug discounts flow through 340B each year — yet little data exists on how those savings are used. Chronic disease patients, especially those with high drug costs, often see no direct community benefit. Without reform, analysts warn the program may undermine drug pricing systems and continue to erode public trust. 'This isn't just a New York issue. Every state should be asking: is 340B still doing what it was meant to do?' said Newmark. GHLF urges lawmakers nationwide to adopt transparency mandates, patient benefit requirements, and regular audits before allowing the program to expand further. About GHLF The Global Healthy Living Foundation is a U.S. based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, international organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for people with chronic illnesses by advocating for improved access to health care through education, patient-centered clinical research, support, advocacy, and economic and policy research. GHLF is also a staunch advocate for vaccines. The Global Healthy Living Foundation is the parent organization of CreakyJoints®, the international, digital community for millions of people living with arthritis and their supporters worldwide who seek education, support, activism, and patient-centered research in English, Spanish, and French. In addition to arthritis and autoimmune disorders, GHLF supports dermatology, gastroenterology, neurology, cardiology, oncology, infectious disease, rare disease, and pulmonary patients through a host of different programs and activities which draw more than 700,000 patients a month to GHLF websites and create more than 10 million impressions a month on seven social media platforms. In 2024, GHLF had more than 1 million views and listens with its patient-centered audio-visual content, found on YouTube and podcast platforms. GHLF never asks the public for donations, receiving funding instead through governments, non-governmental organizations, foundations, industry, family foundations, and GHLF Co-Founder Louis Tharp. Visit for more information.
Boston Globe
08-05-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Largest owner of R.I. community health centers to lay off 70 workers, citing Medicaid reimbursement rates
Despite what he called a 'strong balance sheet, the layoffs were directed by PCHC's board, Thomas said, which has 'a fiduciary responsibility to PCHC and its patients." Advertisement 'These are difficult but necessary decisions to ensure we are here for the community for years to come,' said Thomas. Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up The news comes as other health care organizations around the state and region are facing deteriorating financial situations. In Springfield, Massachusetts, Baystate Health In Rhode Island, primary care network Anchor Medical Associates is permanently shutting down this spring, Advertisement Prior to cutting more than 70 of its employees, Providence Community Health Centers was on track to lose $5 million in 2025, executives say. Those losses are a result of Medicaid rates not keeping up with inflation, and promised relief from the state that rates would be raised, but never delivered, said Brett Davey, PCHC's director of development. PCHC, which also cares for homeless individuals and families, relies on Medicaid for 70 percent of its funding. But over the last five years, reimbursement rates have been increased 10 percent, while costs to deliver care have risen by 30 percent, said Davey. Facing mounting public pressure to find a solution for health care, Governor Dan McKee Related : PCHC also relies on the 340B pharmacy program, a federal program that requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to sell certain drugs at discounted prices to Advertisement Enacted under former President George H.W. Bush, the 340B Drug Pricing Program is a lifeline for many nonprofit providers. But in recent years, while the program has expanded – discounts have risen from $6 billion in 2015 to $46.5 billion in 2022, according to the Lown Institute in Massachusetts – drug manufacturers have sought to scale it back, and have looked to restrict how many community pharmacies can use such discounts. 'PCHC remains committed to fighting at the state and federal levels for relief,' the system wrote in a statement. Alexa Gagosz can be reached at
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Who's afraid of Big Pharma? Not the R.I. House's lone independent
Rep. Jon D. Brien, a Woonsocket independent, is seen on the floor of the Rhode Island House of Representatives on April 29, 2025, waiting for the day's session to begin. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) When Big Pharma lobbyists came to the Rhode Island State House April 10 to oppose legislation that would hurt drugmakers' profits, Woonsocket independent Rep. Jon D. Brien was ready for them. Brien, the sole independent in the 75 seats of the House of Representatives, was there to introduce his bill that would shield a federal drug pricing mandate from manufacturer intervention. 'They've come from far away to tell you, 'The sky shall fall in the state of Rhode Island if you pass this legislation,'' Brien told the House Committee on Health and Human Services. 'And I assure you … it will not.' H5634 aims to stop drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from controlling patient access to discounted prescription drugs under the 340B Drug Pricing Program. Congress created the program in 1992 to help safety net clinics and hospitals 'stretch scarce federal resources as far as possible,' according to program overseer, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Under 340B, providers buy drugs from manufacturers or wholesalers at a federally set minimum discount of 23.1% off the average retail price, although the discount for providers is typically 25% to 50%. Providers are then reimbursed for the drug's standard price by insurers, and the clinic's savings are reinvested in more patient services. The feds don't pay the difference — the manufacturer eats the discount. Drugmakers continue to participate so they can have their drugs covered by Medicaid and Medicare, but some have recently tried to block providers from contracting with multiple pharmacies to fill 340B prescriptions. Outsourcing dispensing, manufacturers argue, is the latest example of how providers are profiting off a system designed to reduce customer costs for outpatient drugs. 'This legislature needs to fight back,' Brien told the committee. 'Pharmacy benefit managers, insurers and drug manufacturers are bleeding our safety net providers dry with discriminatory, profit-driven tactics. They're slashing reimbursements, clawing back funds, and steering prescriptions to their own pharmacies, crippling health centers and hospitals that serve our most vulnerable residents.' When Rhode Island Current caught up with Brien a week later, he remained firm on his bill's importance for protecting Rhode Islanders. 'Who are we going to prioritize this legislative session: Big Pharma or the people of Rhode Island?' Brien asked. 'It'll be hard to go back to them and tell them why this didn't pass, because I sure as hell am not going to sugarcoat it if it doesn't.' He was glad to see testimony supporting the legislation far outweigh opposition at the hearing. The bill was held for further study, which happens to every bill upon its debut. But what makes Brien's bill unique is the list of strange bedfellows backing it. Co-sponsors include two Republicans, Reps. Marie Hopkins of Warwick and David Place of Burrillville, and two Democrats, Reps. Megan Cotter of Exeter and Jacquelyn Baginski of Cranston — a rare show of tripartisan teamwork. 'Without question, the most consensus building piece of legislation that I've ever submitted,' Brien tweeted about the bill on April 29. Brien, who sports an image of Tulsi Gabbard being sworn in as director of national intelligence as his X header, won his House District 49 seat in 2022. Like Gabbard, Brien was once a Democrat. An attorney who specializes in personal injury, criminal defense, DUIs and expungements, Brien held the Rhode Island House District 50 seat from 2007 to 2013 when he lived in Woonsocket's Globe District, before moving to the city's North End. (The District 50 seat now belongs to Democratic Rep. Stephen Casey.) 'We are all of vast and varying ideologies, but we all believe the same thing,' Brien said over the phone. 'And the same thing is we got to get this bill passed.' Last year, Brien introduced the same legislation, which died in committee. It's why Cotter, whose western, rural Rhode Island district spans 100 square miles of Richmond and most of Exeter, sought him out this year. Brien's bill, she said, could help local health clinics survive, especially those in the state's rural and underserved areas. 'This bill could be the difference between some of them staying open and some of closing,' Cotter said. Across the rotunda, however, the Senate version of the bill remains firmly partisan. S0114, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Bridget Valverde of North Kingstown alongside seven Democrats, most of them progressives, was held for further study after its hearing on March 20. Brien's fight for 340B comes from his own backyard. Thundermist Health Center in downtown Woonsocket in Brien's district is a federally qualified health center which serves over 63,000 patients annually, including low-income and uninsured people, and it participates in the 340B program. It then reinvests the savings into other services, like an onsite food bank. Last year, Thundermist had to lay off 130 workers and eliminate its tobacco cessation program after losing roughly $5.6 million in 340B revenue, Matthew Roman, the center's chief operating officer, told the House committee. The loss came even after Thundermist worked with a national firm to recover maximum revenue from the program. Thundermist staff said the patient experience has been affected by moves by manufacturers to refuse or heavily limit shipments of 340B discounted products to multiple pharmacies — a not uncommon request for providers, who will contract with multiple pharmacies so patients can fill their medicines closer to home. Some Thundermist patients now have to visit different pharmacies depending on which manufacturer made their medication, Chris Durigan, the health center's director of clinical pharmacy services, told lawmakers at the hearing. Peter Bancroft, CEO of WellOne Primary Medical and Dental Care which has four locations in Rhode Island, shared a similar story. About a year and a half ago, WellOne used to subsidize about 40,000 $5 prescriptions monthly in its discount program. Now, the center is writing around 10,000 of those prescriptions a month, because of manufacturer restrictions that steer the discounted drugs toward one pharmacy. 'We had to pick one that was quote, unquote 'centralized,'' Bancroft said. 'Well, if you think there's a central pharmacy between Burrillville and North Kingstown and Scituate and Foster. We ended up going to the pharmacy in Chepachet. Our patients from North Kingstown are not driving to Chepachet to get their $5 prescription.' Other community health clinics offered testimony in support of Brien's and Valverde's bills. Providence Community Health Centers lost $9 million in 340B revenue in four years. WellOne faces a $2.1 million deficit in fiscal year 2025, with $1.7 million tied directly to lost 340B earnings. Wood River Health, which has three locations across the state, reported a $1 million loss in revenue over two years. CharterCARE doesn't yet benefit from 340B at its for-profit, safety net hospitals, but it wants the program intact as its properties — Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence and Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence — transition to nonprofit, 340B-eligible status after a protracted but soon-to-be-concluded change in ownership. Jeffrey Dandurand, the health system's pharmacy director, submitted written testimony that 'a key aspect of our strategic transition plan…is dependent on participation in the 340B program.' The Hospital Association of Rhode Island supports the legislation and submitted written testimony, and the town of Burrillville passed a resolution in support. Pharmaceutical manufacturers, however, are unhappy with the use of contract pharmacies, which can be any third-party drugstore including chains like CVS and Walgreens. In 2010, HRSA allowed providers to use unlimited contract pharmacies, fostering abundant growth. Since then, the number of contract pharmacies has grown 12,000%, and there were more than 200,000 contract pharmacy agreements inked between 2013 and 2024 — numbers that come from a report funded by PhRMA, a major pharmaceutical lobbying and trade group. Brien's Republican co-sponsors on the House health committee were unmoved by the arguments of Brian Jordan, a lobbyist for PhRMA, that the root issue of 340B's problems 'always goes back to low Medicaid reimbursement.' 'It almost sounds like you just don't like the program, and you're trying to restrict the program as much as possible,' said Rep. David Place of Burrillville. First-term Rep. Marie Hopkins of Warwick dug into Jordan's assertion that facilities are using 340B for profit. These are places already operating on 'shoestring' budgets, she offered, and 340B is a way to recoup costs. 'It's not how the program was originally intended,' Jordan said. 'I mean, it's a revenue source. Why not increase the sales tax, something like that?' 'When I go to the mechanic, and I pay the $299 for tires, I know that he got them for $100,' Hopkins said. 'But there is a cost associated with his providing the service. That's how business works. I see this the same way, and you're trying to scoop out their revenue source.' Hopkins' arguments echoed those of hospital trade groups, like a 2024 American Hospital Association report that cited a $30 billion growth in the 340B program over five years, while the drug market grew $330 billion in that same time. Other sources like the Drug Channels Institute analyzed HRSA data to show that the 340B program grew $12.6 billion in a single year, accounting for $66 billion overall revenue in 2023. 'Everyone in the drug channel — hospitals, federal grantees, PBMs, pharmacies, plan sponsors, employers, insurers, wholesalers, technology vendors, consultants, and more — profits from the billions of 340B dollars that are sloshing around the system,' the institute's founder Adam J. Fein wrote in 2024. PhRMA's Jordan and Rep. Hopkins did agree there should be more rigorous oversight of 340B. As drafted, the Rhode Island legislation does not permit audits beyond those already performed by the federal government. Cara Sammartino, an associate professor at Johnson & Wales who chairs the school's public health program, urged lawmakers in written testimony to strike that clause, as vagueness in federal audit laws allows 340B entities to audit themselves or hire contractors to do it. 'When I go to the mechanic, and I pay the $299 for tires, I know that he got them for $100. But there is a cost associated with his providing the service. That's how business works. I see this the same way, and you're trying to scoop out their revenue source. – Rep. Marie Hopkins, a Warwick Republican, to a pharmaceutical lobbyist a House committee hearing Brien told Rhode Island Current the idea that 340B providers aren't audited is an industry 'red herring…All the legislation says is that these institutions can't be audited more than the federal government requires them to be.' In 2023, Minnesota became the first state to require annual reporting from 340B entities. A 2024 report found that 13% of providers — mostly large hospitals — earned 80% of 340B revenue, while safety net clinics earned the least. Meanwhile, $120 million went to contract pharmacies and third-party administrators, echoing drugmakers' assertions that the program is lucrative. Similarly, a 2021 white paper by the Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service found that hospitals represented 60% of 340B sites in 2020. Unlike non-hospital entities covered by the program, 340B hospitals 'are not required to use 340B savings to serve vulnerable populations, nor are they required to report how 340B revenues are used,' according to the report. Johns Hopkins University Professor of Accounting Ge Bai wrote in a 2023 testimony before a U.S. Congressional subcommittee that 'many tax-exempt hospitals have been deviating from their original charitable pursuits to focus on expanding their market share and enhancing profitability,' a motive that also includes 340B, since 'eligible tax-exempt hospitals…can generate substantial profits by providing these drugs to well insured patients,' Bai wrote. Asked about the Rhode Island bill, Bai said over email, 'The bill, if passed, would represent a win for 340B hospitals in RI and a loss for pharmaceutical companies.' But, she added, 'the scale of the 340B program has been ballooning.' She pointed to an April 15 executive order from President Donald Trump likely to affect the program by requiring greater oversight and regulation of Medicare and Medicaid payments for drugs. Brien and Valverde want Rhode Island to follow in the footsteps of 33 states that have passed laws to defend contract pharmacy use or prohibit PBM discrimination against 340B entities. The legislation has invoked both specific legal challenges and broader ones. Judges in the D.C. and Third Circuits ruled that the 340B statute says nothing about where or how drugs must be dispensed — ultimately a blow against contract pharmacies. Conversely, it seemed as if the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would resume the course set for HRSA under the Biden administration when, in March, HRSA continued litigation over drugmakers' Medicaid contracts if they offered alternative rebates in violation of 340B. An HHS spokesperson said via email that the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation, and would not provide an on-record comment about the future of the 340B program. States have already been sued for trying to enshrine 340B protections, Brien said at the hearing, and some emerged victorious. The possibility of defeat in court was not enough to deter Brien. He cited lawsuits against proposals for truck tolls and high-capacity magazine bans filed before the relevant bills even hit the House or Senate floor. Brien asked his colleagues: 'Since when does this institution not pass legislation for fear of a lawsuit?' Over the phone, Brien remained hopeful. 'I intend to do a full court press on this thing. It's my number one priority. It's the number one priority of a number of legislators,' he said. 'It comes down to, 'Will leadership stand with Big Pharma or the people of Rhode Island?'' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
