NACHC - National Association of Community Health Centers
04/02/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/03/2024 04:02
NACHC Leads Response to Senate’s 340B Request for Information
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Amy Simmons Farber, 202-309-0338
BETHESDA, MD - Nearly 400 Community Health Centers and State and Regional Primary Care Associations signed on to the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) letter in response to a Request for Information on the future of the SUSTAIN 340B Act (view sign-on letter). The request came from Senator John Thune (R-SD), Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD).
The request sought bipartisan policy solutions that would improve the integrity and stability of the 340B program. For over 30 years ago, Community Health Centers have been model examples of why the safety-net program is needed. Health centers cannot survive without support from the 340B program, and NACHC will continue to fight to protect the program for health centers and the more than 31.5 million patients they serve.
The 340B program has been critically important for health centers as it enables them to purchase outpatient medications at significantly reduced costs. This provides affordable, discounted, or free medications to uninsured and underinsured patients. By law, health centers are required to reinvest every penny of 340B savings into activities that expand patient access.
"For NACHC and our members, protecting the 340B program is a health equity issue, as the program allows Community Health Centers to offer affordable medications and supportive services to patients living in medically underserved areas, " said Joe Dunn, NACHC Senior Vice President for Public Policy and Advocacy. "This discussion draft of the SUSTAIN 340B Act is another step in the right direction to introducing bipartisan legislation that will stabilize the 340B program and protect the health care safety net."
NACHC helped form the Alliance to Save America's 340B Program (ASAP 340B) to support comprehensive legislative reforms, ensuring the longstanding viability of the 340B program for true safety-net providers, including health centers. Through this effort, we have worked diligently to find solutions that we believe are in the best interest of the 340B program and the patients it serves. We believe the SUSTAIN 340B Act will appropriately balance vulnerable patients' access to care on the one hand and program integrity and sustainability on the other.
Health centers are the largest primary care network across the country and the safety net for millions of vulnerable patients in underserved communities. Yet, their mission goes beyond health care and extends to services that improve overall quality of life. The 340B program promotes health equity by expanding access to patients in underserved communities by creating savings to address social determinants of health like transportation, food insecurity, life skills training, and social support services. 340B savings fill the gaps to meet community and patient needs better.
About National Association of Community Health Centers
Established in 1971, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) serves as the leading national voice for America's Health Centers and as an advocate for health care access for the medically underserved and uninsured.