October 15, 2010—More than 1,700 340B/Prime Vendor Program (PVP) participants are sharing $4.5 million in credits to their 340B drug purchasing wholesale accounts this year as a benefit of doing business with the 340B group purchasing entity.
Apexus Inc., the nonprofit corporation that runs PVP under a federal contract, announced its third – and largest – revenue shareback to participants this summer. Participants received a total of $1.8 million in 2008 and $2 million in 2009. In June of that year, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) extended Apexus’ contract to manage PVP through September 2014. It has been running the program, which negotiates 340B sub-ceiling prices for participants on more than 3,500 drugs and provides discounts on other products and services, since 2003.
Funds Disbursed in August
Eligible PVP participants received their sharebacks during August in the form of a wholesaler credit to their 340B accounts. “This shareback program reinforces our commitment to these organizations,” says Chris Hatwig, the Apexus vice president who oversees PVP. “HRSA has been very supportive of the shareback strategy as a means of further reducing medication costs for the programs’ most-active participants.”
PVP participants are eligible for the credits if the revenues that their purchases bring in are greater than what it costs PVP to service them. Participants that generate the most revenue get the biggest credits. Sharebacks this year ranged from $203 to $192,000. The funds are deposited directly into the participants’ 340B wholesaler accounts, where they are recycled into more 340B purchases.
“If you use the program it can actually pay you back,” Hatwig says. “It’s a nice added feature.”
Hatwig notes that the availability and amounts of the credits depends on PVP’s expenses. This coming year, for instance, PVP anticipates its cost of doing business will rise due to new roles it expects to assume as a consequence of 340B’s expansion.