Advocacy

1.      Confused by all the activity in the House Energy & Commerce Committee this week? We’ve included a summary of the provisions approved by the full committee (including 2.25 years of mandatory funding and the first-ever 340B reporting requirements) on page 4.

2.       A study was published this week critiquing grantees’ use of the 340B program.  The study – which was funded by Gilead (whose CEO is the incoming Chair of PhRMA) – claimed that:

• Grantees are a larger share of the 340B program than people think, receiving between $8 billion to $12 billion in 340B savings in 2020.
• 70% of grantees’ 340B savings come from public payers.
• The average grantee has more contract pharmacy arrangements than the average hospital, with FQHCs having by far the most contract pharmacies.

• “Without greater transparency it is unclear to what extent federal grantee clinics depend on … [340B savings] to fund their operations, [and] whether patients benefit from these funds.”  See page 6.

3.       An industry insider has indicated that they expect “several more” manufacturers to impose contract pharmacy restrictions on CHCs once the two remaining Circuit Court decisions are announced. See page 7.

There’s one over-arching Recommended Action Item:  Please encourage your CHCs to continue their 340B advocacy efforts (& continue you own efforts), as there is “still a lot of work to do to convey the urgency of this issue to CHCs” to the Hill. (Quote from ACH.)  CHCS can do this by:

• Completing the NACHC 340B survey by next Wednesday, May 31.
• Reaching out to the Hill.  (This NACHC portal makes this easy.)
• Recording a brief video about the value of 340B for NACHC’s Gathering Voice campaign.  See page 3.