ICYMI: Rachelle Schultz, CEO of Winona Health called the 340B Drug Pricing Program a survival issue for communities and patients like those in Winona.
Like many hospitals in rural Minnesota, Winona Health relies on 340B to fund essential services in a community that would otherwise not be able to afford to keep them afloat. For Winona Health, this includes cancer care, pharmacy access, chronic disease management, and services for patients who are uninsured or underinsured.
From Schultz’s Op Ed in the Rochester Post Bulletin:
I want to be direct: We could not afford the medications our patients need without 340B. And if we cannot afford them, our patients do not get them. It is that simple.
This is not a program that pads hospital budgets. It is a program that keeps the doors open.
A math issue: Schultz explained that more than half of Minnesota hospital patients are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, programs that typically reimburse less than 68 cents for every dollar it costs to provide care. That, combined with rising pharmacy costs, results in hospitals that would not be able to make the math work to keep services in place without the discounts they receive on drugs from 340B.
340B is under attack from Big Pharma and Minnesota has the chance to protect it. A bill in the Minnesota legislature that would permanently protect the program and give the attorney general authority to enforce the law and hold pharmaceutical companies accountable.
