The Alliance to Save America’s 340B Program (ASAP 340B) is proud to announce the newest member of the partnership: The Southern Christian Leadership Global Policy Initiative (SCL-GPI). As a nonprofit, non-sectarian, inter-faith advocacy organization committed to nonviolent action to achieve social, economic, and political justice, the SCL-GPI has a long history of advocating to advance health equity.
SCL-GPI’s parent organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), planted its roots in the Civil Rights Movement, and under Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s leadership, played a pivotal role in the fight to end segregation. Today, the issues of health equity and access to adequate health care for African Americans and other marginalized communities comprise a crucial part of the broader fight for social justice.
Nearly 20 million people of color in the United States rely on community health centers and other safety-net clinics for their medical care, many of which are participants in the 340B program. Ensuring the program's resources actually reach those in need is essential to upholding its long-term sustainability.
ASAP 340B was formed to bring greater accountability and transparency to the 340B program so that it can function as intended, enabling true safety-net providers to help low-income and other vulnerable patients access more affordable medicines and health care services. ASAP 340B’s ten policy principles reflect the consensus of its members and are guiding efforts to realign the program as a force for good in the nation’s safety net.
Since launching earlier this year, ASAP 340B has continued to grow its membership – growing to a total of seventeen partners from different parts of the 340B ecosystem who all recognize the need to modernize the program for long-term sustainability.