The landmark prescription drug pricing legislation that President Joe Biden signed this month is a mixed bag for 340B stakeholders, 340B Health Publisher and CEO Ted Slafsky says in his latest column for Omnicell.
Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act on Aug. 16. Among other features, it lets Medicare negotiate the prices of certain costly prescription drugs and requires drug makers to pay Medicare rebates when their prices outpace inflation.
“Despite a long delay in implementation, there is no debate that the new law will profoundly impact both Medicare beneficiaries and health care providers,” Slafsky says in an Aug. 26 essay for Omnicell’s blog. “The IRA is the most significant health measure to pass since the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and is the most significant drug pricing legislation to make it through Congress since 2003.”
As for the 340B program, Slafsky says that while the IRA undoubtedly will help Medicare beneficiaries, people who get Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies, and people with diabetes, its “ultimate impact on 340B stakeholders will not be known for years to come.”
More details about the IRA including the provisions impacting 340B stakeholders can be found in his full column here.
