Webinar Spotlights Senate’s 340B Report; ASAP 340B Partners Urge Congress to Enact Comprehensive Reform

Last week, more than 100 stakeholders gathered for a webinar hosted by the HEAL Collaborative, Saving America’s Safety-Net: How 340B Went Off Course and Why Reform Can’t Wait. The event highlighted the findings of an 18-month investigation into how 340B covered entities use revenue from the program, launched by U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who chairs the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Senator Cassidy’s report confirms what ASAP 340B’s 32 partner organizations have been calling for—reforms are needed to ensure the 340B program is fulfilling its intended mission of improving the health of low-income and underserved communities.

The webinar opened with remarks from Jeff Last, Legislative Lead on 340B in Senator Cassidy’s office, who reinforced the need to return the program to its core purpose. “We feel that it’s important that we realign the program with its original intent and reform it so that it ultimately becomes more effective, more accountable, and more patient-centered,” Last said.

The panel was moderated by Howard Mosby, CPA and Board Member of the HEAL Collaborative, who shared firsthand accounts of how some institutions struggle to meet patient needs while others exploit the program for financial gain.

ASAP 340B Executive Director Thomas Johnson joined the panel to stress the growing public concern over the program’s lack of transparency. “There's this presumption regarding transparency that people don't care about that issue,” he said. “But the more and more the average person learns about the fact that the second-largest drug discount program in the country doesn't have basic transparency as part of its charge, they're offended by that... they would like to see where this discount money is going.”

Panelists emphasized that while Community Health Centers (CHCs) continue to demonstrate strong stewardship of 340B resources by using the program to lower drug costs and expand healthcare access for low-income patients, the same cannot be said for many large hospital systems, which comprise an increasingly larger share of the program.

Other panelists included Ted Okon, Executive Director of the Community Oncology Alliance, and Lizzie Wittig, Director at the Tigerlily Foundation’s HEAL Policy Center. Ted drew attention to how for-profit middlemen, such as pharmacy benefit managers and insurers, are increasingly exploiting the program. Meanwhile, Lizzie emphasized that real transparency, when applied consistently across all participants, is critical to protecting patients and the program alike.

ASAP 340B remains committed to advancing comprehensive federal reforms that hold all stakeholders accountable, and we urge Congress to take action to restore the 340B program to its founding purpose and ensure these critical resources reach the patients and communities they were intended to serve.