Senate Appropriations Panel Approves 340B User Fee

by admin | September 20, 2011 8:18 pm

September 20, 2011—A U.S. Senate appropriations subcommittee voted 10-8 along party lines today to pass a fiscal 2012 spending bill that would authorize the first-ever user fee for providers enrolled in the 340B drug discount program. The full committee is expected to take up the measure tomorrow, Sept. 21.

In a news release, the Senate Labor/Health and Human Services/Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee said the estimated $5 million in proceeds from the 0.1 percent levy on 340B purchases would be used “to implement program integrity work recommended by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and mandated by” last year’s Affordable Care Act (ACA). The fee would add a penny to every $10 in 340B sales.

The health care reform law directed GAO to conduct a major study of the 340B program that is expected to be released imminently. The law also included several program integrity mandates that the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has refrained from carrying out completely, saying it lacks adequate funding to do so.

The Obama Administration asked Congress for the one-tenth of 1 percent 340B user fee in itsfiscal 2012 budget request last February[1].

Overall, the bill would provide $70.18 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), down from $70.44 billion in the current fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. Specific line items for HRSA and the Office of Pharmacy Affairs, which administers the 340B program, were not immediately available.

The user fee would also have to be approved by the House in order for it to become law. The House Appropriations Committee has yet to act on its version of the Labor/HHS/Education spending measure.

Source URL: https://340bemployed.org/senate-appropriations-panel-approves-340b-user-fee/

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