Magellan Partner, Greg Hiczewski, MBA, CPA attended the 340B Coalition Winter Conference in San Diego, California January 29 through February 1, 2019.  This conference, with an attendance of over 1,500 participants, was designed to provide attendees with important information about the Federal 340B drug pricing program.

The program was created by an act of Congress in 1990 and expanded in 1992 to provide price concessions for pharmaceuticals used by Medicaid beneficiaries and safety net providers.  This program allows the participating entities to stretch scarce federal resources to provide comprehensive care to the populations they serve.

Participant providers include:

Disproportionate share hospitals

Children’s hospitals

Cancer clinics

Rural health centers

Critical access hospitals

Federally qualified health centers

HIV Clinics

Tuberculosis clinics

Black lung clinics

Title X family planning clinics

Sexually transmitted disease clinics

Hemophilia treatment centers

Urban Indian clinics

Native Hawaiian health centers

The program allows participating organizations (covered entities) to obtain discounts on the drugs they purchase for the patients they serve.  These price concessions are an important part of the covered entities ability to provide and expand the range of services offered to their patient population.  Often, clinic fees for providing treatment are not sufficient to cover operating expenses.  Without the price concessions the 340B program provides many of these covered entities would not be able to provide services to these vulnerable populations.

Our client, WNY BloodCare http://www.wnybloodcare.org, provides comprehensive care to hemophilia patients that include: medical care and monitoring, specialty lab testing, drug infusions, physical therapy, genetics counseling, behavioral health counseling and pharmacy.  The Magellan Group has helped WNY BloodCare navigate the complex regulations, ensure compliance with program requirements and maximize the fiscal benefit to the agency.

The 340B program is administered by the office of pharmacy affairs of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHR).  The program has received scrutiny by congress and critics of the healthcare industry.  While not perfect, the program enables covered entities to provide a broader array of services and improve the fiscal viability of the organizations providing these services.