August 21, 2014—The Medicaid drug rebate program saved states and the federal government an average of $17.5 billion annually between 2011 and 2013, an amount that will grow as a result of changes made by the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General says in a new report. [ms-protect-content id="2799"] Sometimes, however, states and … [Read more...]
Why 340B Matters: Perspectives from Texas, Kansas, and Tennessee
Hat's off to three Ascension Health hospitals for writing op-eds for their local papers about why 340B is vital to their mission to help vulnerable patients. In the Aug. 18 edition of the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, Seton Healthcare Family CEO Jesús Garza noted that "the 340B law is simple and effective. Allowing Seton and other safety net providers to pay less for … [Read more...]
The 340B Hospitals That Allegedly Live Large Off the Poor? They’re Barely Breaking Even.
Last week in Forbes, Big Pharma propagandist Sally Pipes claimed that 340B enables corruption, by letting hospitals "enhance their bottom lines with hundreds of millions of dollars intended to help the indigent." Someone forgot to tell this to Wall Street. Around the same time that Pipes was fulminating about those devious 340B hospitals, Standard & Poor’s Ratings … [Read more...]
Nonprofit Hospitals and Health Systems at a Financial “Tipping Point”
Median operating margin for systems fell to 2.2% in 2013 and is expected to decline further in 2014August 18, 2014—Nonprofit hospitals and health systems remained barely in the black in 2013 and signs point to even more financial pressure ahead, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services warned last week in two new reports.[ms-protect-content id="2799"] In a third report on hospital and insurer financial performance during the second quarter of 2014, the credit ratings agency … [Read more...]
One-Third of Drugmakers Skipped Medicare Part B Price-Reporting Requirement
Failure might have resulted in incorrect payments to providers, OIG findsAugust 14, 2014—More than a third of drugmakers failed to submit average sales price data to the federal government for one or more of their Medicare Part B drugs during third quarter of 2012, despite being required to do so, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General has found.[ms-protect-content id="2799"] Missing or inaccurate ASP data may … [Read more...]
Judge Repeats That Calif. 340B Medicaid Carve-Out Ban Is Invalid
State is appealing the decisionAugust 12, 2014—A federal district judge has reaffirmed that California health officials may not enforce a state law that forbids 340B health care providers from "carving out" 340B-purchased drugs from California's Medicaid program, Medi-Cal. State health care officials say they will appeal.[ms-protect-content id="2799"] U.S. District Judge Manuel Real issued the permanent … [Read more...]
Public Hospitals Provided $7.7 Billion in Uncompensated Care in 2012
America’s Essential Hospitals members report average operating loss of 0.4 percentAugust 7, 2014—Public hospitals and health systems – nearly all of which participate in the 340B program – provided more than $7.7 billion in uncompensated care in 2012, new data from the group America's Essential Hospitals show. The figure is about $1.7 billion greater than total amount spent on all drugs through the 340B program in 2012 by all types of health care … [Read more...]