U.S. Representatives Larry Bucshon, MD (R-IN-08), Buddy Carter (R-GA-01), and Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) introduced the 340B Affording Care for Communities and Ensuring a Strong Safety-Net Act (340B ACCESS Act). This legislation, H.R. 8574, establishes critical oversight and transparency of the 340B program while providing clear, practical, and achievable solutions to ensure the 340B program can be a force for good in the nation’s health care safety net. The 340B ACCESS Act seeks to capture the policy principles which reflect the consensus of ASAP 340B members and will guide efforts to realign the 340B program in the interest of true safety-net providers and the communities they serve. Here are a few key highlights for those of us not in the weeds on 340B. This legislative solution:
· Protects Community Health Centers’ ability to serve all patients, regardless of their ability to pay, by increasing access to affordable medications and health services for medically underserved communities.
· Restores access to unlimited contract pharmacies, including access to mail order and specialty pharmacies, enabling greater access for health center patients.
· Ensures health centers and their patients have access to affordable medications for prescriptions written by specialty providers.
· Stops “middlemen” (corporations that seek to profit from savings) from taking the savings away from the health center that is providing overall care to the patient and their community.
· Increases transparency and accountability for all stakeholders in the program.
Click here to learn more. Call and email your Representative and ask them to cosponsor this legislation! NACHC is hosting a webinar on June 3 at 3:00 pm to provide additional information about the legislation. Register here.