Category: Research/Reports

Hospitals Taking Heavy Losses Due to Drug Company Limits on 340B Pricing, Survey Says

January 27, 2022 Tom Mirga Editor at Large Views

340B Health says a new survey of its members shows 340B hospitals “are losing significant resources” due to drug companies’ conditions on 340B pricing when covered entities use contract pharmacies.

UPDATE Friday, Jan. 28, 2022—This story was updated to include comments by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA.)

340B hospitals “are losing significant resources” due to drug companies’ conditions on 340B pricing when covered entities use contract pharmacies, according

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PhRMA Says More than Half of Pharmacy and Provider Profits on Brand Drug Sales Come Through 340B

January 11, 2022 Tom Mirga Editor at Large Views

PhRMA says 52% of U.S. pharmacies and health care providers profits' from reimbursement for administering brand-name prescription drugs now comes through participation in the 340B program. The AHA calls the finding an example of drug companies deflecting attention away from the high prices they set.

More than half (52%) of the $81 billion that U.S. pharmacies and health care providers collected in 2020 in reimbursement from payers for brand-name prescription drugs came through pharmacy and provider participation in the 340B program, up from 14% of

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Is There a New 340B Stakeholder Group for Pharma Companies?

December 21, 2021 Tom Mirga Editor at Large Views

A new infographic by a drug industry consultant indicates it was created for the 340B Industry Roundtable—an apparently new 340B drug industry stakeholder group.

A new two-pager about the 340B program by drug industry consultant Berkeley Research Group (BRG) indicates it was created for the 340B Industry Roundtable—an apparently new 340B drug industry stakeholder group.

The infographic came to light Sunday. It includes

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U.S. Retail Drug Spending Hit $348.4 Billion in 2020 but Overall Prices Fell 0.1%

December 16, 2021 Tom Mirga Editor at Large Views

U.S. retail prescription drug spending hit $348.4 billion in 2020 but overall prices declined slightly, a new federal report shows.

U.S. retail prescription drug spending hit $348.4 billion in 2020, constituting 8% of total health care expenditures, a new federal report shows.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday published its annual national health care spending report

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Drug Makers May Be Getting Orphan Drug Designations to Exploit 340B Orphan Drug Exclusion, HHS OIG Tells Congress

December 9, 2021 Tom Mirga Editor at Large Views

The 340B orphan drug exclusion may give drug makers a strong incentive to get an orphan designation for their drugs prescribed primarily for common diseases or conditions, a federal watchdog agency reminded Congress this month.

The ban on 340B pricing on orphan drugs for over 1,000 hospitals may give companies that make drugs used primarily for common diseases or conditions a strong financial incentive to get an orphan designation for those drugs, a federal watchdog

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AIR340B Releases Study Criticizing DSH Hospital Commitment to the Underserved

November 23, 2021 Tom Mirga Editor at Large Views

AIR340B has released a new report saying "only true safety-net facilities" should be eligible for 340B discounts.

Drug distributor AmerisourceBergen’s business consulting unit Xcenda has written an issue brief for drug industry-led group AIR340B saying Congress and the executive branch should revise 340B eligibility standards to keep 340B “from being used solely as a profit center for

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Drug Pricing Watchdog Identifies Most Significant Price Hikes

November 23, 2021 Ron Shinkman Views

AbbVie’s anti-inflammatory blockbuster Humira accounted for nearly $1.4 billion in additional unsupported U.S. drug spending last year, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review says.

Makers of seven of 10 top drugs in the U.S. hiked those drugs’ prices substantially in 2020 with no new evidence of improved safety or effectiveness, led by AbbVie’s anti-inflammatory blockbuster Humira, an influential drug pricing watchdog group says.

The

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AHA Criticizes JAMA Study of What Hospitals Charge for Clinician-Administered Drugs

November 16, 2021 Ron Shinkman Views

The AHA says a JAMA study on what hospitals charge insurers for clinician-administered drugs lacks context.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has pushed back on a JAMA Internal Medicine study suggesting that leading acute care facilities that are 340B covered entities have wide variations in how much they charge insurers for clinician-administered drugs.

That study,

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Two New Studies on Hospital and Health Center Participation in 340B

November 9, 2021 Tom Mirga Editor at Large Views

Rush University Medical Center was included in a JAMA Internal Medicine study of what top hospitals charge commercial insurers for clinician-administered drugs.

A new research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine found substantial variation among 17 “top-performing” hospitals—14 of them enrolled in 340B—in what they charge commercial insurers for clinician-administered drugs.

Meanwhile, new research published in Journal of Healthcare Quality found that

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University White Paper on 340B Says Pharma and Hospitals Will Keep Testing 340B’s Bounds Until Congress Acts

October 19, 2021 Tom Mirga and Ted Slafsky Editor at Large Views

Pharma and hospitals will keep testing the bounds of the 340B program until Congress steps in, a University of Southern California (USC) health policy research fellow predicts in a new white paper.

Drug manufacturers and hospitals “will likely continue to test the bounds” of the 340B program until Congress passes legislation addressing multiple concerns about it, a University of Southern California (USC) health policy research fellow says in a new white paper.

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