Chris Hatwig |
July 6, 2009 – “All of them.” That’s Chris Hatwig’s recruitment goal as he looks ahead to another five years as head of the government’s 340B Prime Vendor Program. All 340B-covered healthcare facilities should be under Apexus/PVP’s helm, he said, because “anybody who’s not in the program is overpaying for drugs.”
And Hatwig has a plan for how to get there.
The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) decision last month to give Apexus another five-year contract hardly came as a surprise. The Texas-based company has been credited with significantly growing the vendor program to now include 9,000-plus 340B-covered facilities nationwide. Together, they account for 90 percent of all pharmaceutical purchases under the 340B program, for a total annual value of $4.5 billion, Apexus says.
Since it began operating the program in 2004, Apexus has also managed to negotiate pharmaceutical prices that now fall between 2 percent and 35 percent below the 340B ceiling price, Hatwig said. This translates into million of dollars in savings for hospitals, community health centers, family planning clinics and other safety-net providers that care for low-income and uninsured patients.
Apexus beat out two competitors in the bid for the government contract. HRSA would not divulge who the other bidders were, but the Monitor has learned that MedAssets, a Georgia-based group purchasing organization serving more than 3,000 hospitals nationwide, was one of them. The new PVP contract starts Sept. 10, 2009.
HRSA did not give its vendor specific instructions for the next five years, other than to build on its accomplishments thus far. But on Apexus’ to-do list is expanding its educational services, primarily through webinars, to broaden knowledge of the 340B program and, of course, of Apexus/PVP itself.
“We feel that there’s a lack of education or awareness among entities that are not yet in the program,” Hatwig said. “So we’ll do more and more training and outreach and put more tools and reports on our Web site.”
There are also several special initiatives under way, such as expanding PVP’s portfolio of women’s products to include all 13 product categories within the next month. The organization is also conducting discussions with hemophilia treatment centers and suppliers of blood products to try to negotiate lower factor product prices – a big concern for such providers. Better and more targeted services for tuberculosis, or TB, programs is also a priority.
All this requires more participation by manufacturers. PVP has 60 brand-name manufacturers on board now and two more, Merck and Bayer, pending. Hatwig is pleased that manufacturers that traditionally guard their prices closely are now coming forward to post their ceiling prices on PVP’s protected Web site. “They’re expressing confidence in our organization,” he said.
Jim Mitchell, director of HRSA’s Office of Pharmacy Affairs, said Apexus proved itself during the current contract, bringing “tremendous value” to the participating clinics and hospitals and that the program will grow even stronger in the years ahead. “I look forward to our continued work with Chris Hatwig and his highly committed staff,” he said.