Hospital groups fighting CMS, pharma on 340B cuts
The American Hospital Association, America’s Essential Hospitals and the Association of American Medical Colleges are both lobbying against and suing over a CMS rule to cut Medicare payments made through 340B drug discount program by 28 percent.
As Kaiser Health News reports, the reduction is supported by lawmakers and regulators, as well as the pharmaceutical lobby, arguing the program has grown well beyond its original intent of helping hospitals which serve many low-income patients.
To the hospitals, the payment cuts could be the tipping point forcing some facilities to close while transferring revenue to the drug manufacturers.
“There was never any concern about its size until, basically, pharma decided it had gotten too big and started investing in a public relations and lobbying campaign to reform it,” said William von Oehsen, founder of the group 340B Health.
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John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.