The AAMC joined 340B Health and America’s Essential Hospitals in an amicus brief (PDF) supporting a challenge to a fundamental shift in the program scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2026, which will result in immediate and irreparable harm to safety-net hospitals and their patients.
The brief, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine in American Hospital Association et al. v. Kennedy et al., supports plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order. Oral argument on the motion is scheduled for Dec. 19.
Since 1992, the 340B Drug Pricing Program has provided upfront discounts on covered drugs to safety-net hospitals, community clinics, and other health providers. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recently approved a rebate program to require providers to purchase ten high-cost drugs at significantly higher list prices and then pursue rebates from drug manufacturers [refer to Washington Highlights, Oct. 31]. The American Hospital Association’s lawsuit contends that HRSA failed to comply with well-established principles of administrative law, hastily approving the program without giving due consideration to more than 1,000 public comments — including those submitted by the AAMC — documenting significant cost and implementation burdens of the program, all of which will have profoundly detrimental impacts on safety-net hospitals and their patients [refer to Washington Highlights, Sept. 12].
The amicus brief illustrates how the rebate program will threaten patient access to essential health care and services provided by 340B hospitals and how HRSA rushed its approval and failed to consider less costly alternatives or the harm attributable to the drastic change.