February 10, 2012—The Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) is holding a webinar at noon (Eastern) on Tuesday, Feb. 28 to explain in detail what hospitals must do to recertify their eligibility for the 340B program and to answer any questions that hospitals might have. Beginning in April, hospitals will be required to recertify that they meet all 340B eligibility requirements. … [Read more...]

February 6, 2012—In apparent response to urgent appeals by safety-net providers, drug manufacturer Sanofi U.S. has announced that it is reinstating patient assistance for its anti-coagulant Lovenox effective Feb. 15. The company discontinued its patient assistance program (PAP) for the widely used drug in late December. It also ended its entire institutional patient … [Read more...]

January 30, 2012—The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has published its long-awaited proposed rule to implement the Medicaid average manufacturer price (AMP) and best price (BP) provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Once finalized, the rule will have major implications for prices paid for 340B-discounted drugs. CMS is accepting comments on its proposal … [Read more...]

January 26, 2012—Apexus, the organization that runs the 340B Prime Vendor Program (PVP), is giving a quarter-million-dollar challenge grant to a nonprofit foundation created in 2010 to raise funds for the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative (PSPC). Launched in 2008, PSPC is made up of more than 120 … [Read more...]

January 25, 2012—The proportion of American adults lacking health insurance coverage climbed to 17.1 percent last year, the highest level since the Gallup Organization and the disease-management company Healthways began tracking the indicator five years ago, the companies reported yesterday. The new study, whose findings dovetail with those reported by the U.S. Census Bureau … [Read more...]

January 24, 2012—The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has set May as its target for issuing its long-awaited final rule to implement health care reform's prohibition on 340B discounts for orphan drugs purchased by hospitals that became eligible for 340B under reform. The projected timeframe for publication was included in the Department of Health and Human … [Read more...]

January 20, 2012—The Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) has begun its first-ever audits of 340B covered entities to determine if they are eligible to receive drug discounts, if they have sold or diverted discounted drugs to ineligible patients, and if they are able to prevent and detect instances of drug diversion and duplicate discounts. Some hospitals have received letters … [Read more...]