During the November 30 session of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) 10th Annual Summit, industry leaders discussed 340B, an upfront drug discount program for low-income areas. This program was designed to expand resources and increase the volume of patients that can be treated. The discussion was moderated by Ted Slafsky, Founder and Principal of Wexford Solutions.
Mr Slafsky began the session by providing a history of the 340B program, which was enacted in 1992 and then expanded in 2007 to children’s hospitals and again in 2010 to rural hospitals and more contract pharmacies.
Madeline Wallack, PhD, Founding Director of Rx|X Consulting, discussed the deficiencies, oversight, and accuracy of pricing in the 340B program. Dr Wallack referred to the results of a 2005 study, which determined that the Health Resources and Services Administration was missing data and that there were no actions being taken to ensure that covered entities were paying the right price.
Chris Hatwig, MS, RPh, FASHP, President of Apexus, provided statistics, noting there was $29 billion in 340B-related sales in 2019 and 80% of the program purchases were associated with hospitals as the largest covered entities groups.
Other hot topics discussed in this session included the 340B Prime Vendor Program, the contract pharmacy model, and issues that are likely to be addressed by the future administration and Congress.
There is still time to register for the AVBCC Summit! The agenda is packed with timely insights and expert views needed to understand today’s cancer care ecosystem and trends for the future.
