Two leading oncologists detail the importance of the 340B program in the inaugural issue of Oncology Payers. In the article, Robert Chapman, M.D. and William Wood tout the benefits of the program stating,
“From the inner city of Detroit to the small towns of Michigan and Kentucky, the program provides an invaluable mechanism for the delivery of quality cancer care as well as discounted medicines and free clinical services. For many hospitals, the savings afforded by 340B are essential to keeping oncology programs running – and their doors open. The drug industry is eager to scale back the program. Some private oncologists have attacked 340B and blame it for driving hospital purchases of their practices as well as higher prices. In reality, hospital/private-practice mergers of all kinds are driven by economic forces associated with the changing health-care landscape – particularly low insurance reimbursements.”
Dr. Chapman is the Director of the Josephine Ford Cancer Institute at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Mich. Mr. Wood, who was a pharmacist at University of Utah Health Sciences Center, is now a Board Trustee for Aspirus Ontonagon Hospital in Ontonagon, Mich., and is also a consultant for Visante.
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