This week, Rob and Greg connected with Vacheria Keys, Director of Policy & Regulatory Affairs at NACHC. Vacheria will talk about her role at NACHC and how the health centers she represents have been impacted by a number of ongoing 340B developments (23:05).  She’ll also share her thoughts on where things may go in terms of ongoing litigation related to contract pharmacy restrictions and patient definition (30:29).  Finally, Vacheria and the guys will chat about NACHC’s 340B advocacy efforts, specifically the recently unveiled ASAP 340B policy principles (39:48).

In the intro, the guys follow up on some earlier discussions regarding HRSA audit numbers projected for 2023, recent OPAIS changes, and a bipartisan bill introduced in the House, “The PROTECT 340B Act”. 

Rob is back from San Diego, and he and Greg have a lot to catch up on, including a recap of notable events and sessions from the 340B Coalition 2023 Winter Conference (27:37). But first, They’ll discuss recent changes to manufacturer-related contract pharmacy restrictions (1:03), share insights from recent Congressional hearings where 340B has been a focus (13:42), discuss recent OPAIS changes (20:43) and talk about the impact hospitals might expect with the phase-out of continuous Medicaid coverage starting this month (24:03).   

Stick around at the end to catch sound bytes from SpendMend staff on what they learned at the Coalition conference!

AHA Talking Points for 340B Advocacy: https://www.aha.org/talking-points/2023-04-04-talking-points-ensuring-protection-vital-340b-program-patients-and-providers

In this episode, Rob and Greg dissect some of the finer details of the ASAP 340B policy principles. They’ll address the merits of proposed reform around topics like patient definition, hospital and child site eligibility, contract pharmacy provisions, and 340B savings transparency, among other targeted policy areas. Also, with the 340B Coalition Winter Conference right around the corner, the guys highlight sessions and presentations (41:08) featuring SpendMend clients and 340B friends that you won’t want to miss.  The SpendMend Pharmacy team will be at Booth 319, so if you attend the Coalition, make sure to stop by.  And no worries if you cannot make it this year, we’ll be taking notes and sharing insights from our experience at Coalition on upcoming episodes.

In this episode, Rob and Greg are joined by pharmacist leader and 340B expert Leah Marcelin (22:32) to share thoughts and ideas about building out an expert staff to manage your 340B program. They’ll debate strategies for right-sizing and organizing your team, share tips on recruiting 340B talent, and offer ideas on how to provide training and enrichment to 340B team staff members.

But first, Rob and Greg spend some time discussing a new organization - ASAP 340B, and their advocacy campaign proposing several reforms to the 340B Program. They’ll give a run-down of each of the 10 policy principles developed by this group, many of which aim at recent hot topics in the 340B community, including contract pharmacy arrangements, patient definition, hospital eligibility, and transparency of 340B Program data, among others.  

Read ASAP 340B’s policy principles here: https://www.asap340b.org/policy-principles

Connect with Leah Marcelin on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hmarcelin

This is part two of our two-part series focusing on 340B grantee-covered entities. The team talks about the importance of maintaining auditable records (15:34) and the challenges that many grantees face in meeting this 340B eligibility requirement. Also, they cover important billing considerations related to Medicaid Duplicate Discount prevention (31:20). Finally, the group debates future developments that 340B grantee-covered entities should keep on their radar through 2023 (45:52).

But first, Greg and Rob catch up on 340B implications from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 and share insights from a recent publication (J Manag Care Spec Pharm. 2023;29(3):229-35) that predicts which drugs will be subject to Medicare price negotiations starting in 2026 and beyond.

This episode is the first part of a two-part series focusing on 340B grantee-covered entities.  Rob and Greg are joined by SpendMend pharmacy experts (19:43) who bring their FQHC and Ryan White experience to share insights into 340B Program participation from the grantee perspective.  They’ll discuss what to look out for regarding OPAIS registrations (21:00) and requirements for using 340B savings (33:11).

But first, Rob and Greg catch up on the latest 340B developments, including new J&J contract pharmacy restrictions and a recent publication that reviews implications around new CMS billing modifier requirements for IRA-mandated inflation rebate penalties.

In this episode, Rob and Greg catch up on recent 340B developments, including the 3rd Circuit Court ruling on one of the contract pharmacy cases and the subsequent changes to some manufacturer's policies (1:36), how the new shape of the Senate HELP Committee may influence 340B legislative debate, and why a renewed focus on advocacy might be helpful (9:39) and what the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) might mean for 340B Program operations (15:54).

Later, Rob and Greg are joined by colleague Riley Protz (25:24), and they discuss the latest challenges with manufacturer restrictions in the 340B contract pharmacy space.  They’ll recap the most up-to-date manufacturer policies, address the many difficulties with uploading data to 340B ESP, and highlight how the SpendMend pharmacy team has been supporting covered entities in navigating the issue.

Senate HELP Committee Membership: https://www.help.senate.gov/about/members

Rob and Greg kick off the episode with some discussion around news and noteworthy items across the 340B landscape, including more dialogue around CMS guidance on “JG”/”TB” modifiers (1:01), 340B in the news media (4:31), grantee recertification tips (14:13) and ongoing challenges working 340B ESP (18:39). Later in the episode, they are joined by Victoria Ferris of OptumRx and Thatcher Sloan of RxBenefits to discuss pharmacy benefit strategy as an underappreciated opportunity in the 340B space (26:23).

For our last episode of 2022 Rob and Greg are joined again by SpendMend colleague Matt Parker and debate the top developments in the 340B space over the last year.