Columbus, OH – As Ohio lawmakers look for solutions to fix a broken 340B drug pricing program, The Buckeye Institute released a new policy brief—The 340B Fix: Federal Bipartisan Effort Best Path to Reform—outlining how the program came to neglect its well-intended goals and urged Ohio policymakers to encourage federal reforms percolating in Washington.

“Artificial price controls, perverse incentives, and virtually no reporting transparency have all contributed to a broken and wildly expensive 340B drug pricing program,” said Rea S. Hederman, vice president of policy at The Buckeye Institute and the co-author of The 340B Fix. “Understandably, state policymakers have proposed various ways to improve program outcomes, but ultimately, state reforms are no substitute for real reforms that only Congress can deliver.”

Noting that, despite their good intentions, state initiatives “risk complicating and confusing genuine legislative solutions percolating in Washington.” Hederman and his co-author, Donavan Rees Lingerfelt, an economic research assistant with The Buckeye Institute, urged Ohio policymakers to “raise their concerns about the costs and misuses of the disappointing 340B program” and encourage “Congress to increase programmatic transparency with a renewed effort to help low-income patients—not hospitals and pharmacy giants.” 

Specifically, the authors recommend Ohio:

• Investigate 340B program revenue across the state to reassure taxpayers and patients that the program “savings” are properly used. 
• Have an accurate accounting of the program’s financial impact on Medicaid and hold all involved parties more accountable for any abuse of program funds. 
• Support transparency legislation, such as House Bill 96, to reveal which entities pass down program discounts to patients and expose those that exploit the system. 

Hederman continued, “The 340B program requires federal reforms to fix the broken program, and Ohio leaders should encourage that effort.”

# # #