Sharley Chen and |
July 27, 2009 – They came to 340B from different angles – he through a non-profit and she the federal government – but both had a profound and lasting impact on the drug discount program. On July 13, Derek Robertson, former executive director and founder of The Hemophilia Alliance, and Sharley Chen, former public health advisor and database administrator for the Office of Pharmacy Affairs, were recognized with life-time achievement awards at the Annual 340B Coalition Conference in Washington, D.C.
“In the beginning, there were only a few of us who had 340B programs and nobody liked us – manufacturers didn’t like us and the homecare companies didn’t like us,” recalled Patricia Dominic, executive director of Hemophilia of Georgia, which created one of the nation’s first 340B-covered hemophilia treatment centers. “But we realized there were strengths in numbers, and Derek helped us see that big picture.”
Today, The Hemophilia Alliance represents 74 treatment centers that participate in the 340B program, serving thousands of patients with bleeding disorders. Under Robertson’s leadership, such providers became an intricate and important part of the pharmacy safety net that the 340B program supports.
Robertson left the Alliance last year to become vice president of regulatory affairs for Apogenics, a Pennsylvania-based health care industry consulting firm. “You don’t do the work to get recognized,” he said when receiving his plaque, “but it’s certainly nice to be recognized!”
Chen joined the Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) in 2003 after spending three decades in various federal government positions. During the award ceremony she recalled how OPA Director Jim Mitchell one day happened to stop by her office, located next to a HRSA break room, and started to chat with her about the challenges his agency faced.
The Office of Inspector General report had just found significant deficiencies with OPA’s database of covered entities and manufacturers, he told her. The report also found flaws in OPA’s price verification system. “Sharley and I talked and she agreed to be reassigned,” Mitchell said. “When the IG walked out, she walked in.”
Chen immediately rolled up her sleeves and went to work with a commitment and tenacity that would soon yield results. “Sharley pretty much on her own weeded out almost 4,000 bad records in a database of 10,000,” Mitchell recalled.
But Chen would not take full credit for improving the OPA database, the critical information center that manufactures and health care providers participating in the 340B program rely on to ensure that providers get proper discounts and manufacturers aren’t subject to duplicate discounts. “A lot of the changes were made because you let us know what the problems were,” she told the conference audience of mostly hospital, health center and industry representatives. “So if you find mistakes in that database, make sure to tell OPA, and they can fix it for you.”
Chen retired in January of this year, but says she remains open to “interesting projects” that may come her way.