Drug Reimbursement Policy & Hospitals
Hospitals have been loudly protesting recent changes to an obscure Medicare program known as 340B drug discount program, saying that these changes put patient care at risk. The truth is, hospitals are most concerned with protecting their profit margins.
The 340B program requires drug manufacturers who want to participate in Medicaid and Medicare to sell drugs at significantly reduced prices to certain hospitals that are supposed to treat high numbers of indigent and uninsured patients.
After the Trump administration announced changes to 340B reimbursements, hospitals began a campaign to convince Congress to reverse them. Unfortunately, caught up in this mess is our longtime Rep. Peter King, who has signed on to this effort as one of many co-sponsors of a bill that would roll back the changes.
What the congressman might not know is that new data from Avalere Health, a nonpartisan firm that analyzes the impact of health policies, shows that because of the reforms, New York hospitals will actually see an increase of $34 million in payments this year, while the incentives for hospitals to abuse the 340B program are reduced. That’s smart policymaking and something he should support.
Written By: Dr. Jeffrey Vacirca