WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, U.S. Representatives Larry Bucshon, MD (R-IN-08), Buddy Carter (R-GA-01), and Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) introduced the 340B Affording Care for Communities and Ensuring a Strong Safety-Net Act (340B ACCESS Act), a bill that makes changes to the 340B Drug Discount Pricing Program. While Advocates for Community Health (ACH) strongly supports Congressional efforts to address ongoing issues within the 340B Drug Discount Program, ACH is unable to support the 340B ACCESS Act in its current form. The provisions in this legislation would result in an unacceptable reduction in the value of the 340B program to health centers, which would restrain their ability to care for patients and continue expanding access to care for those most in need.
ACH is a strong supporter of the 340B program because it enables health centers—critical safety net providers that provide care to all who seek it, regardless of ability to pay—to serve more patients with more services and achieve better health outcomes. While we cannot support this bill, we remain supportive of Congressional efforts to work toward thoughtful reform of the 340B program. We are confident that a careful restructuring of the program will more effectively and responsibly sustain its support for health centers, and more importantly, patients, moving forward.
The following statement can be attributed to Amanda Pears Kelly, CEO of Advocates for Community Health:
“While ACH is grateful to our colleagues in the field for their efforts and intent to improve the program, we must critically examine all proposals on behalf of our members. We cannot support legislation that significantly reduces health centers’ ability to leverage 340B on behalf of their patients. ACH urges Congress to reconsider our calls to incorporate some of the principles we drafted in our 340C legislative proposal, including accountability, transparency, and stability.”
“We look forward to continued conversations with the bill’s sponsors and those who support 340B reform. We are committed to working together to identify policy changes to restructure this program in a way that most benefits patients and their communities.”
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About Advocates for Community Health
Advocates for Community Health (ACH) is a membership organization for federally qualified health centers that strives to advance the delivery of health care to underserved populations and to achieve health equity for patients and communities in need. We are committed to working collaboratively to advance well-defined and forward-thinking policies at the national level. By leveraging the wisdom, agility, and innovation of our members, ACH brings bold leadership to drive the future of the Health Center Program and to transform the American healthcare system. To learn more, please visit advocatesforcommunityhealth.org.