In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, America’s Essential Hospitals urged the Department of Health and Human Services to repay 340B Drug Pricing Program hospitals swiftly for five years of Medicare Part B drug payment cuts.
Through these cuts, in effect from 2018 through fall 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reduced Part B reimbursement to 340B hospitals by nearly 30 percent, amounting to more than $1.5 billion in reduced drug reimbursement annually to 340B hospitals.
In the letter, America’s Essential Hospitals asked that CMS swiftly develop a remedy that would make 340B hospitals whole for the difference between what they were paid during the five years in question and what they should have been paid, plus applicable interest. The association also emphasized that CMS should not recoup money from other hospitals as a part of a remedy.
CMS reversed the payment cuts beginning in 2023 but has yet to remedy hospitals for the forgone payments from 2018 to 2022. CMS has said it expects to go through notice-and-comment rulemaking to develop a remedy, with a proposed rule expected as early as April.
Contact Senior Director of Policy Erin O’Malley at eomalley@essentialhospitals.org or 202.585.0127 with questions.
