340B discounts appear to be in jeopardy as pharmaceutical companies make it more difficult for qualified hospitals to get access to discounted prescription drugs.

One pharmaceutical company reportedly will stop offering discounted drugs to contract pharmacies; another proposes limiting sales of certain medications; and yet others may require claims from contract pharmacies.

Providers that serve especially high proportions of low-income patients are eligible to participate in the 340B program, which provides discounts on prescription drugs that they dispense to outpatients.  Most private safety-net hospitals participate in the 340B program and consider it a vital tool in serving the many low-income residents of the communities in which they are located.  NASH has urged Congress to protect the program, doing so most recently in this July letter to Senate leaders.

Learn more about the challenges providers face in ensuring their continued access to discounted prescription drugs for their low-income patients in the Fierce Healthcare article “Drugmakers getting bolder in fight over 340B drug discounts.”