June 21, 2012—Effective July 1, Florida 340B contract pharmacies will no longer have to keep physically separate inventories for 340B and non-340B drugs, under legislation passed by state lawmakers and signed by Gov. Rick Scott (R) this spring.[ms-protect-content id=”2799″]
The Florida Hospital Association estimates that by allowing contract pharmacies to keep track of 340B drugs with computerized virtual inventories, the new law will yield the state’s hospitals an additional $380 million in 340B savings.
Few other states, if any, require 340B contract pharmacies to keep their 340B and non-340B inventories physically separate. The use of 340B contract pharmacy arrangements has been quite limited in Florida. According to the Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) covered entity database, there are fewer than 100 340B contract pharmacies in the state.
Most contract pharmacy arrangements across the country use a replenishment model, under which the contractor dispenses drugs to 340B-eligible patients from its own inventory and then has the drugs restocked by the 340B provider.[/ms-protect-content]