What it is about the 340B Program that is challenging pharmaceutical manufacturer’s right now?

Chris Hatwig, Vice President of Apexus, the organization responsible for managing HRSA’s 340B Prime Vendor Program, highlights the importance of the 340B program to the MDRP community and beyond, as well as how the MDRP Summit facilitates forward thinking business development and understanding within the pharmaceutical manufacturer community in our exclusive podcast.

Today's Podcast Highlight: What is it about the 340B Program that is challenging pharmaceutical manufacturer’s right now?

Chris' answer:

As far as challenging (the key word there), obviously the manufacturers are concerned about the growth of any federal programs because there are steep discounts associated with federal programs, whether that’s the VA program, the Medicare Program, the Medicaid Program or 340B. So, all of these are federal programs and there are steep discounts involved either through rebates or through direct models that concern the industry. The industry’s margins are in question. It’s kind of like the last free market is disappearing on them in the country. It’s a global market and the industry is very concerned about that. And probably there is concern there because the Affordable Care Act, number one, expanded the number of 340B entities that are eligible to join the program. You are probably aware that there is a number of 340B hospitals, community health critical access hospitals, or referral centers and sole community hospitals that were eligible to join the program as a result of the passage of the Affordable Care Act. That is some of the growth that we’re seeing.

The other is that the entities are expanding operations. This is out of necessity. A lot of the patients in the country rely on these safety net institutions for care. Declining reimbursement in the marketplace with private physicians has driven more and more patients to the safety net institutions and they are having to expand their operations in order to care for the patients. So, that also contributes to the expansion of 340B. A good example is a number of hospitals expanding their oncology divisions, maybe buying up private physician practices. There are a lot of drivers involved with this. One is the declining reimbursement of private providers that’s causing the shift. That’s causing concern and then the hospitals are obviously having to expand their operations to meet the needs of the patients.

For the full interview, download the audio and transcript here.

As a reader of this blog, you receive an exclusive discount of 25% off of the standard rate when you register to join us this September 10-12, 2012 in Chicago, IL when you register and use priority code XP1758BLOG. Do you have any questions about the event? Feel free to contact Jennifer Pereira.