A clash among powerful health care industry interests over the 340B drug discount program is likely to heat up in the states this year, with billions of dollars at stake as hospitals and pharmacy chains take on drugmakers.
The 340B program, named after the 1992 federal statute that authorized it, requires manufacturers who participate in Medicare and Medicaid to sell outpatient drugs at deep discounts to health care providers serving needy communities. Those providers can charge insurance providers full price and use the extra money — tens of billions of dollars annually — to invest in their facilities or care for poor patients.
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