A fight over an embattled drug discount program is intensifying on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers weigh competing proposals to reshape the program amid escalating tensions between hospitals and drugmakers.
Lawmakers in both chambers have rolled out, or are planning to soon introduce, fresh proposals to alter the 340B program, which requires drug manufacturers sell deeply discounted drugs to safety net providers, including some hospitals and community health centers that serve large numbers of low-income patients.
The renewed push comes as industry and regulators move ahead with their own changes, with drugmakers imposing new conditions on access to discounts. And the Trump administration is considering a shift to a rebate model, which could require providers to pay full price for drugs and seek reimbursement after.
The call for 340B changes stems from long-standing criticism that some providers, like large hospital systems, use the program to pad their bottom lines rather than serve their communities — a charge they deny while defending the discounts as a way to stretch limited federal resources to pay for low-income patients’ care.
“You have hospitals and pharma absolutely at it with each other,” said Amanda Pears Kelly, chief executive officer of Advocates for Community Health, a group that advocates for community health centers and supports changes to 340B.
