September 20, 2012—Hospitals that provide much of the nation’s charity care are applauding the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) proposal to remove a flaw in its Medicare outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) payment methodology that the safety-net care providers had previously asked it to address. Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access (SNHPA) … [Read more...]
OIG Examines How States Exclude 340B Claims From Medicaid MCO Rebate Requests
21 states have adopted ways to guard against duplicate discounts, study findsSeptember 20, 2012—Twenty one of the 25 states that use managed care organizations (MCOs) to administer their Medicaid pharmacy benefit have procedures to exclude 340B claims from their Medicaid MCO drug rebate requests, a new report has found. The report, by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG), focuses primarily on what states … [Read more...]
17 Senators Ask CMS to Broaden Medicaid Best-Price Exemption
Aim is to expand non-340B providers' access to nominally priced contraceptivesSeptember 14, 2012—Seventeen U.S. senators have asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to clarify that drug manufacturers can provide nominally priced pharmaceuticals to women's health centers and family-planning clinics that do not participate in the 340B program without fear of lowering those products' Medicaid best price. The senators made their … [Read more...]
AIDS Group Asks Calif. Court to End State’s 340B Carve-Out Ban
2009 law harms 340B safety-net providers and will diminish patient services, it allegesSeptember 13, 2012—The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has asked a California court to invalidate a 2009 state law that bars safety-net providers from carving their 340B drug purchases out from Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program. In a July 26 complaint filed in state Superior Court in Los Angeles, AHF says the law violates the state constitution and state and federal … [Read more...]
HRSA Renews Contract for 340B Prime Vendor for Another Year
Exercises one-year option to continue its agreement with ApexusSeptember 13, 2012—The Health Resources and Services Administration has opted to renew its contract with Apexus to operate the 340B Prime Vendor Program (PVP) for another year. In 2009, HRSA signed Apexus to a two-year base contract to run PVP with three option years, the first of which HRSA exercised in October 2011.[ms-protect-content id="2799"] Apexus is a nonprofit … [Read more...]
Two Audited 340B Hospitals Get Clean Bills of Health
The first two of 51 HRSA audit reports find no evidence of diversion, duplicate discounts, or ineligibilityAugust 30, 2012—Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) program integrity audits of two hospitals' 340B drug discount programs identified no occurrences of drug diversion to ineligible patients, duplicate discounts under Medicaid, or eligibility issues, the Drug Discount Monitor has learned. Denver Health and Hospital Authority, an integrated public health system … [Read more...]
“C-suite” Executives Share Lessons About 340B
Webinar focuses on benefits to patients and compliance best practicesAugust 28, 2012—Without 340B drug discounts, safety-net hospitals and community health centers (CHCs) would find it difficult, if not impossible, to continue providing free or reduced-cost comprehensive pharmacy care to the poor and uninsured, top senior executives at six 340B hospitals and centers said during a recent Pharmacy Services Support Center (PSSC) webinar. But … [Read more...]