Children’s Hospitals to Regain 340B Orphan Drug Discounts
December 19, 2010
Posted by chcablogadmin in : Cost Reduction, Group Purchasing, Healthcare Reform
John VanEeckhout, VP, Clinical Services, CHCA
On Weds., Dec. 15 President Obama signed important legislation restoring children’s hospitals’ access to 340B orphan drugs discounts retroactive to January 1, 2010. Although Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access (SNHPA) advocated for extension of the 340B orphan drug discounts to rural hospitals and free-standing oncology hospitals, this was not part of the legislation. (See message below sent from SNHPA 12/9.)
Through the efforts of CHCA, NACHRI, HIGPA, and the Owner Hospitals’ lobbyists and government affairs personnel, we have successfully changed the unfortunate errors from the HCR reconciliation legislation which restricted our access to orphan drugs to full and unrestricted access to all categories of 340B drugs by children’s hospitals.
Thanks for all of your support and hard work on this effort over the past year.
SNHPA Update Special Edition December 9, 2010
SNHPA Applauds Restoration of 340B Orphan Drug Discounts for Children’s Hospitals
Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access (SNHPA) is pleased that Congress today clarified the provision in health care reform that inadvertently denied children’s hospitals access to significant discounts on so-called “orphan drugs” for their patients, many of whom require expensive, long-term or complicated care. The U.S. House passed the legislation this afternoon after the Senate approved it last night. President Obama has indicated that he will sign the bill, H.R. 4994, that includes this technical correction. DONE 12/15.
We thank the members of Congress from both sides of the aisle who advocated for this crucial clarification.
We are also pleased that Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), in a statement yesterday, said it did not oppose restoring children’s hospitals’ access to reduced prices on these drugs.
In addition to ending the ban for children’s hospitals, the law that Congress passed today makes clear that such hospitals are entitled to retroactive relief if they were denied discounts.
“While we welcome this development, SNHPA urges Congress to extend these discounts to rural and free-standing cancer hospitals that gained eligibility for 340B under health care reform,” said SNHPA Executive Director Ted Slafsky. “These institutions also spend a significant portion of their drug budget on these therapies. It is imperative that they be able to access affordable medications for their patients.”
Several manufacturers recently began denying 340B pricing on orphan drugs to these institutions and children’s hospitals as well. SNHPA has asked these companies to resume the discounts pending guidance from federal health officials, which we have been told is forthcoming.
We will continue to work with rural and cancer hospitals and our congressional allies to lift the orphan drug ban for these institutions.
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