Letter to House Ways and Means Committee supporting HR9504’s 340B transparency provisions
Committee on Ways and Means
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Richard Neal, Ranking Member
Committee on Ways and Means
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Neal:
The HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute is a national organization promoting quality and affordable healthcare for people living with or at risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other serious and chronic health conditions. We write in support of the 340B transparency provisions in H.R. 9504, the Tax Exempt Hospital Transparency Act, as the Committee takes up the bill at its July 1 markup.
The 340B program is essential to HIV prevention and treatment. It was created to help safety-net providers, including HIV and STD clinics, stretch limited resources in order to serve more low-income and uninsured patients. We strongly support preserving the program so that care can be delivered to those who otherwise would be out of reach.
Transparency is critical to that goal. Ryan White clinics, community health centers, and other federal grantees already report on their 340B participation as a condition of receiving federal funding. However, hospitals do not face comparable requirements, even though they now account for much of the program’s size and growth. We are concerned that some hospitals benefit from 340B discounts without passing savings on to patients. H.R. 9504 begins to address this gap by requiring hospitals to report basic, aggregate information about their 340B activity.
We encourage the Committee to build on this important first step. Aggregate totals showing hospital revenue from 340B drugs will not reveal how individual patients benefit. Hospitals should also report how they pass 340B savings on to patients and what patients are charged for 340B drugs. This information is essential to determining whether the program is serving the people it was intended to help.
Thank you for your attention to 340B transparency. We welcome the opportunity to serve as a resource as the bill moves forward.
Sincerely,
Carl E. Schmid II
Executive Director
cc: Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means