AHA responds to report on 340B program

The AHA today responded to a report that is the “latest in a series of attempts to misrepresent” the 340B Drug Pricing Program and the benefits it helps bring to poor patients and vulnerable communities. The report, which says 340B hospitals are more likely than non-340B hospitals to acquire independent physician practices, “uses a questionable data methodology to identify hospitals that ‘potentially’ acquired physician practices,” writes AHA Senior Vice President of Public Policy Analysis and Development Linda Fishman in an AHASTAT blogpost. She highlighted that the report states from 2009-2013 only 71 hospitals participated in the 340B program both during and prior to the month that they possibly acquired a physician practice – a very small number that does not make the case for the trend the group is trying to claim. “Given the increasingly high cost of pharmaceuticals, the 340B program provides critical support to help hospitals’ efforts to build healthy communities,” Fishman writes. “It is important for policymakers and the public to see through the attempt by the pharmaceutical industry to disparage a program that helps provide access to care for vulnerable communities.”