Purpose
The purpose of this bulletin is to inform 340B hospitals of an American Hospital Association (AHA) initiative to help protect the 340B drug discount program and encourage hospitals to participate in the initiative.
Recommendation
We encourage all 340B hospitals to sign the AHA pledge. Signing the pledge commits your hospital to: 1) abide by good stewardship principles created by AHA; and 2) provide information demonstrating how your hospital/health system are using 340B savings to support care in your community.
Overview
The Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) and the AHA continue to advocate to protect the 340B program from threats in Congress. We need your help. Big drug companies are asserting that hospitals/health systems are abusing the program and the discounts are not being used to help poor and vulnerable populations. For more than 25 years, the 340B program has helped qualifying hospitals and other entities maintain and expand access to medical care in vulnerable communities. A special AHA 340B task force, which includes WSHA’s President and CEO Cassie Sauer, recommended that AHA ask member hospitals to sign a pledge to help refute these assertions. WSHA strongly encourages member hospitals to participate in the pledge as a commitment to bring more transparency to the program. Specifically, the pledge includes:
- A commitment to communicate in an annual basis, how the 340B savings it receives are used by the hospital to benefit the community
- A commitment to calculate and disclose and estimate of the savings on drug costs the hospital receives through the 340B program
- A commitment to providing internal oversight and training to ensure the hospital’s 340B program meets the federal Health Resources and Services Administration’s program rules and guidance
Next Steps
Below are the materials available on the AHA website. If you are not an AHA member hospital, you are still encouraged to participate in the initiative and sign the pledge. There is also a separate accessible link to sign the pledge for non-AHA members. For questions to AHA, please contact Molly Collins Offner at mcollins@aha.org.
AHA members can access all these materials on the AHA website. Non-AHA members can contact Andrew Busz, at andrewb@wsha.org for copies of the estimation and communication templates.
- Summary of 340B Good Stewardship Principles
- 340B Financial Value Calculator template to help hospital’s estimate their 340B savings
- Template for communicating value and hospital’s use of 340B savings, including impact of cuts to the program.
- Link for AHA member hospitals to sign on to the Commitment to Good Stewardship Principles Pledge
- Link for non-AHA member hospitals to sign on to the Commitment to Good Stewardship Principles Pledge
Background and References
