Hospitals Reap 340B Benefits While Charity Care Declines

Hospitals Reap 340B Benefits While Charity Care Declines

In 1990 Congress authorized the 340B drug discount program “to stretch scare federal resources” and not serve as a cash-cow for covered entities eligible to participate under it. Under the program, prescription drug manufacturers are required to give steep discounts on drugs sold to safety-net hospitals, community health centers, and other providers with the understanding that savings would be used to make medications and healthcare services more affordable for patients. However, growing evidence suggests the program has strayed from its original mission.

Read more…

340B HYPOCRISY: The inconvenient truth behind why we need to reform this vital safety net program

340B HYPOCRISY: The inconvenient truth behind why we need to reform this vital safety net program

Published in Positively Aware on September 23, 2023

The 340B Drug Pricing Program (340B) is probably one of the most transformative public health programs providing lifesaving supports and services to people living with HIV in the United States, second only to the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP). As such, rigorous debate about the future of the program is not only healthy, but it is also paramount to its success. As patients and patient advocates, it is our responsibility to demand accountability, transparency, and stability. There is universal agreement about the vital role 340B plays in improving access to healthcare. But for many—including ADAP Advocacy and the Community Access National Network—we contend that the program could be doing more…and better! The focus of the program should be on the patients, and not the Covered Entities, medical or service providers, or any other business enterprises making lots of money off it. That is the inconvenient truth behind why we need to reform this vital safety net program.

Read more…

What’s Needed to Fix a Vital Drug Discount Program

What’s Needed to Fix a Vital Drug Discount Program

Published in POZ on June 7, 2023

Thirty years ago, when Congress passed the Public Health Service Act, no one could have imagined that section 340B of the law would become the lightning rod that it is today. The little-known provision created a program to help America’s safety net health care providers bring affordable care and discounted medicines to vulnerable, low-income patients.

Read more…

The Politics of Public Health

The Politics of Public Health

Published in Positively Aware on April 3, 2023

“You'd think one day we'd learn. You don't get anything unless you fight for it, united and with visible numbers. If ACT UP taught us anything, it taught us that.”

—Larry Kramer

The time to fight has once again come knocking on our door. In the dark early years of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, gay men and our allies found the strength to build a grassroots movement to empower ourselves and change the national conversation. ACT UP was the juggernaut that forced our government’s response to the epidemic and ultimately saved an untold number of lives. Ours was a community-led response when it seemed no one was listening. Over time, the paradigm shifted to a celebrity-fashioned response. It became a normal fixture in pop culture to join the fight against HIV/AIDS—witnessed by the high-profile names of Elizabeth Taylor, Reba McEntire, Kenneth Cole, and Bono. It was a young boy from Indiana named Ryan White who helped change the narrative, too. Yet today, far fewer Red Ribbons are visible on celebrity lapels during red carpet awards ceremonies, but that isn’t to say the voices have gone away. The pendulum has indeed swung back to the grassroots community, and if recent events are any indication, there is no better time than the present to elevate the patients’ voice for advocates and activists alike. The time to fight is now!

Read more…

It Is Time to Advocate for the Patient

It Is Time to Advocate for the Patient

Published in PR Newswire on April 12, 2021

The following is a statement by Jeffrey R. Lewis and Brandon M. Macsata:

Republicans and Democrats used to boast about protecting people from having to use hospital emergency rooms unnecessarily. Both parties rallied around the flagpole, trying to demonstrate who cared more. In the end, empty promises.

Read more…