How local health centers and safety-net hospitals are fighting to protect the 340B program
Above photo: Sinai Chicago Pharmacist Anna Sandler checks a medication before filing it. Photo by Katie Scarlett Brandt
Local healthcare providers are raising concerns that drug manufacturers are undermining the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program by restricting where and how providers can dispense discounted medications.
Since 1992, the 340B program has required pharmaceutical companies to sell outpatient drugs at reduced prices to community health centers and hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of uninsured and low-income patients. Providers say the discounts allow them to stretch limited resources and reinvest savings to expand services and improve access to care.
Despite decades of bipartisan support, critics now want to scale back the program significantly.
“Big Pharma is certainly putting all of this heft behind fighting it,” says Dan Regan, vice president of communications and marketing for Sinai Chicago, a safety-net hospital system that serves Chicago’s West and South sides.
Safety-net hospitals and federally qualified health centers, or FQHCs, have joined forces this year to push back.
“We as safety nets don’t have that same kind of heft and leverage, so we have to prevail upon our legislators to do the right thing for the people in the community and protect them, not corporate profit,” Regan says.
On March 1, healthcare providers, patients, and lawmakers gathered at Chicago State University on the city’s South Side for an advocacy event supporting the 340B program.
“We are here because access to healthcare is a human right and a civil right, and access to affordable medication is not a luxury; it’s a lifeline,” State Rep. Anna Moeller said at the event.
Moeller sponsored Illinois Senate Bill 2371, which prevents pharmaceutical companies from interfering with hospitals’ pharmacy partnerships. Supporters say the measure would protect patients’ access to the discounted prices and help ensure prescriptions can be filled locally.
Tom Yu, PharmD, a pharmacist and director of ambulatory pharmacy services at Sinai, estimates that about 700 Sinai patients benefit from the 340B program each year, generating millions of dollars in savings.
Beyond dispensing medications, Yu says his team routinely works with insurers on behalf of patients, appealing coverage denials and helping secure access to needed drugs. The financial flexibility created by the 340B program makes that work possible, he says.
“340B is the financial vehicle that allows us to invest in these support services for our patients. We’re always trying to solve problems,” Yu says, adding that 340B enables Sinai to “affect care on a generational level.”
Unlike grants or foundation funding that typically offer short-term support, 340B provides a more stable source of support.
“If you take 340B away, you’re taking away yet another lever that we have to try to meet the moment,” Regan says, referencing broader financial pressure, including recent cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act that safety-net hospitals are already navigating.
Without 340B pricing, some medications — including certain life-saving blood thinners — can cost between $500 and $1,000 per prescription, Yu says. Prices under 340B are often significantly lower, though discounts vary by drug.
Sinai pharmacists try to explain the program to patients, but most are focused on understanding how to take their medications and manage their conditions, Yu says. “They understand that Sinai is here to help. They don’t understand why.”
Regan says that for many patients, the issue is straightforward. “It’s as simple as: What’s the price of the drug?”
Without the program’s support, providers warn, the answer will be: more.
An award-winning journalist, Katie has written for Chicago Health since 2016 and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief.
