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My professional journey has been diverse through the years — from a senior health official with the State of California, to my current role as a Realtor here in the Desert community. But while the positions are dramatically different, the same rule applies to selling health policy as it does to selling homes: every consumer deserves an honest bill of goods.

Created in 1992 by Congress, the 340B drug discount program started with an important purpose but has recently veered off course.

Drug Discount Program not Working

Drug Program Needs Reforming

Today, the AIR340B Coalition released a report, which found evidence that disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) participating in the 340B drug discount program often are not using the program as originally intended. The report comes a day before the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations holds a hearing to investigate how providers utilize revenue generated by the 340B drug discount program.

Policymakers have renewed their focus on how the 340B drug discount program functions among “safety net” hospitals, particularly Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH), which qualify for the 340B program because they provide a sufficient amount of inpatient care to Medicaid and low-income Medicare beneficiaries.

The U.S. health care system needs systemic reforms that comprehensively address the problems of declining quality and rising costs. Alas, beneficial systemic reforms will not be implemented any time soon. There are still opportunities for Congress to implement tailored reforms that can help address these problems in the near term. One such opportunity is reforming the out-of-control 340B drug pricing program (the federal drug discount program created under the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992).