340B Insight

Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) audits of hospitals play a key role in ensuring compliance with 340B rules and regulations. In this episode, Dave Lacknauth, executive director of pharmacy services at Broward Health in Fort. Lauderdale, Fla., joins us to discuss the importance of taking a proactive, comprehensive approach to audit readiness with the goal of ensuring clean audi...

Artificial intelligence continues to impact industries, including pharmacy and 340B. As hospitals and health systems consider adopting AI, we spoke with Kristin Chupka, the 340B program system director for Dartmouth Health, who shares her experience launching this initiative there and considerations for entities seeking to do the same.   AI, automation, and how they can support 340B Chupka disting...

Hospital clinical pharmacies play a key role in ensuring patients are taking medications effectively and supporting other providers who are managing their care. Mark Riggle, the assistant chief pharmacy officer at UC Davis Health, explains how 340B helps make this direct care and ancillary support possible. Clinical pharmacies are a bridge between providers and patients Riggle says clinical pharma...

The legal fight over drugmakers’ push to impose 340B rebates is heating up, with five lawsuits pending in a federal court in Washington, D.C. Recently, 340B Health joined with two of its member hospitals in asking the court to intervene as defendants to stop these rebates from taking effect. Genesis HealthCare System based in Ohio is one of those hospitals. Shona Carr, the director of 340B and amb...

In what has become an annual tradition for the podcast, we consulted with 340B Health’s expert staff to answer our listeners’ most pressing 340B questions. As an uncertain and busy year starts for the world of 340B, we want to prepare you by covering your queries about the efforts by drug companies to impose 340B rebates, proposed federal and state legislation on 340B, how Inflation Reduction Act...

A Minnesota requirement for covered entities to submit data on the costs they pay and the payments they receive for 340B drugs yielded its first annual report this past November. Today’s guest, Minnesota Hospital Association Director of State Government Relations Danny Ackert, tells us why the report’s findings don’t tell the whole story. The Context for the Dollars  The first Minnesota report con...

Earlier this year, the Health Resources & Services Administration took a strong stance against drug giant Johnson & Johnson’s plan for a proposed 340B rebate model, but the fight over rebates is far from over. 340B Health President and CEO Maureen Testoni joins us to discuss how the company is taking the issue to federal court and how they are not the only drugmaker doing so. J&J Sues...

What Does the GOP Trifecta Mean for 340B? In January, Republicans will achieve what’s known as a governing trifecta – taking control of the executive branch combined with GOP majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate. How will this new dynamic affect the 340B world? We discuss what is ahead with McDermott+ vice presidents Rodney Whitlock, a former Republican legislative staffer, and Debbie Curt...

The focus of attention on cancer care most often goes to the curative treatments required to put cancer into remission, but what do cancer survivors need after that point to fully recover and lead their best possible lives? We discuss that question and how 340B can help answer it with guests Sarah Loschiavo and Ellen Morris-White, two nurse practitioners with UConn Health based in Farmington, Conn...

The 340B drug pricing program is crucial for safety-net hospitals and other providers that care for patients in need, especially those whom traditionally have been underserved by the broader health system. We speak with Dr. Tony Jackson, assistant vice president for pharmacy services at Scripps Health in San Diego, for his views on why 340B is “all about health equity.” 340B Helps Serve the Unders...

Within the past few weeks, drugmaker Johnson & Johnson went head-to-head with 340B hospitals and the federal government over the company’s plan to stop paying upfront 340B discounts on two of its top-selling drugs. 340B Health Senior Counsel Amanda Nagrotsky joins us to explain how that conflict played out. HRSA Warns Johnson & Johnson of Strong Punitive Actions In letters to J&J, the...

A renewed push by a drugmaker to fundamentally transform 340B has the potential to cause major problems for 340B hospitals if allowed to take effect. 340B Health President and CEO Maureen Testoni joins us to explain the controversial 340B rebate issue and to cover some of the other recent developments in the 340B world.   A Plan To Replace Upfront Discounts With Rebates   For years, drugmakers hav...

The 340B drug pricing program is designed to give hospitals the flexibility to use their savings toward the types of patient care and support that their communities need the most. How does that work for hospitals that decide to use their access to 340B to provide the discounts directly to patients who cannot afford their drugs? Paul Orth, 340B program manager at University Health Kansas City Truma...

This marks the time of year when 340B hospitals complete the recertification process to maintain their eligibility for 340B. But why is this recertification needed, and what do hospitals need to know before undergoing recertification?  Steven Miller, the vice president of pharmacy services for 340B Health, describes what is at stake when it comes to hospitals completing recertification every year....

Artificial intelligence is a hot topic in 2024. Discussions about AI in health care continue to grow, including about the potential for such technology to improve care and save lives. What role might AI play in the 340B world? We speak with WVU Medicine Enterprise 340B Program Coordinator Elizabeth Gibson to learn how one health system is exploring this potential. What Can a 340B “Bot” Do? Gibson’...

We have released several episodes in recent months in which we have discussed federal and state legislative efforts on 340B. But what does it take to get 340B protections through a state legislature and to the governor’s desk? In this episode, we speak with Ryan Cross, vice president of governmental affairs with Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, based in Baton Rouge, La. This syst...

While significant 340B actions have happened at the federal level, state legislatures also have made big moves in the world of 340B so far this year. We are joined by Amanda Sellers Smith, 340B Health’s legal counsel, to explain more. More states ban drug company restrictions on 340B contract pharmacies Following the lead of Arkansas and Louisiana, five additional states have enacted contract phar...

The world of 340B has seen significant developments on the state and national levels in recent months. A second federal appeals court decision on 340B contract pharmacies came down in recent weeks, a new bill in Congress threatens to impose significant restrictions on hospital participation in 340B program, and more states move to protect covered entities from drugmaker restrictions. To understand...

The finalized 340B administrative dispute resolution (ADR) rule is set to go into effect on June 18 and will create a process to settle certain disputes between covered entities and drug manufacturers. But what should covered entities know about this process before it launches? Jason Reddish, a 340B expert with the Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville health care practice group, joins us to discuss....

Hospitals throughout the U.S. use their 340B savings in innovative ways to care for their patients in need. In some cases, they can take that care outside the walls of the hospital to meet patients where they learn, live, and play. We speak with Heather Armstrong with Comanche County Medical Center in central Texas to tell us how her health system invests 340B savings into innovative approaches to...

340B savings can help hospitals and other covered entities better serve patients and improve their health outcomes. But how can these entities make the best use of 340B funds for their institutions? We sat down with Matt Webber, director of pharmacy business at Novant Health based in North Carolina, to learn more. 340B optimization strategies   One way that Novant Health optimized its 340B program...

The 340B community has seen major activity on several fronts since the start of 2024 – the introduction of new legislation on Capitol Hill, movement on legislation in the states, and key developments in the courts. 340B Health President and CEO Maureen Testoni returns to the show to help us make sense of these developments and how they might affect stakeholders. Federal bills could help covered en...

One of the most important elements of 340B compliance is preventing duplicate discounts. Ensuring there are no duplicate discounts is high on the list of compliance concerns for covered entities, and it is one of the major items that 340B auditors look for. But how do these entities ensure they stay compliant? On this episode, we speak to Melissa Bruce, an ACE-certified compliance analyst for the...

340B hospitals can register certain outpatient locations with the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) as 340B child sites, which allows them to use 340B drugs. HRSA recently announced some changes to how it had been determining this eligibility during the COVID-19 public health emergency. How have these changes affected 340B hospitals, particularly those that had planned new chil...

The Health Resources & Services Administration audits 200 covered entities each year for compliance with 340B rules. We speak with Mark Capuano, senior director of the corporate pharmacy 340B program at New York City Health and Hospitals, about what hospitals should expect when they find out they will be going through a 340B audit. How a hospital can prepare for a 340B audit Auditors typically...