Gov. Kelly needs to sign omnibus budget bill to protect 340B program
Last month, the Kansas Legislature adjourned following a frenzy of last-minute deals and overriding several of Gov. Laura Kelly’s vetoes.
Amid that chaos, the Legislature adopted an important provision that would protect a vital federal program from growing abuse. Gov. Kelly can take an important step to ensure the 340B program benefits the patients for whom it was intended by signing the omnibus budget bill.
The 340B program is a federal program created in the early 1990s that provides community health clinics and other critical access providers with discounted prescription drugs.
The federal statute creating the program specifies that drugs will be sold to “covered entities” at a discounted rate but that these entities could then bill the full price, which would help them pay for the critical access care they provided to uninsured and underinsured patients.
Recently, Arkansas and a handful of other states have passed legislation to mandate prescription drug manufacturers to ship 340B drugs to pharmacies that contract with covered entities, despite the fact that the 340B statute makes no mention of contract pharmacies.
State governments simply do not have the authority to create new requirements on how manufacturers fulfill their 340B requirements.
Setting aside the question of jurisdiction, there is broad agreement among stakeholders that the 340B program is a critically important part of our healthcare systems safety net. However, since its initial creation, it has seen significant growth and there is real concern that some large hospital systems and contract pharmacies are using the program to rake in huge profits without providing the charity care the program was meant to foster.
By signing the budget bill, Gov. Kelly will send a signal that reforms to this federal program should happen in Washington, D.C. At the federal level, the Alliance to Save America’s 340B Program (ASAP 340B) is a partnership of community health centers, consumer and patient advocates, and leaders from the biopharmaceutical industry all working to pass reforms.
Additionally, a bipartisan group of senators, including our own Sen. Jerry Moran, has developed legislation to strengthen the 340B program and deal with multiple issues beyond just contract pharmacies. The SUSTAIN 340B Act would improve transparency and accountability for contract pharmacy arrangements, child sites and patient definition under the statute.
Multiple stakeholders across the health care and biopharmaceutical sector agree that our most vulnerable patients need access to health care and prescription medications. In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the program, we are fighting for comprehensive reforms at the federal level.
Our state legislators got it right in the closing hours of the 2024 session, we urge Gov. Kelly to join them in protecting the 340B program from further abuse and misuse.
Susan Crain Lewis is the president & CEO of Mental Health America of the Heartland. She has over 35 years of experience in program development, management and implementation. She has worked in numerous fields including, domestic violence, intellectual and developmental disability, reproductive health, mental health and child welfare.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Gov. Kelly needs to sign omnibus budget bill to protect 340B program
