The AAMC sent a Feb. 16 letter to Senator Bill Cassidy, MD, (R-La.) opposing the Helping Ensure Low-income Patients have Access to Care and Treatment Act (HELP Act, S. 2312), which proposes major changes to the 340B Drug Pricing Program, including limiting program eligibility, imposing a moratorium on new participants, and creating additional reporting requirements for certain safety-net hospitals.
The letter expresses several concerns with this bill. It states, “Specifically, we are concerned that linking charity care to program eligibility does not take into account the full range of other burdens that safety net hospitals bear due to the patient population they serve, establishing a moratorium on new hospitals and child sites would restrict hospitals’ abilities to expand services to low-income populations, and the proposed additional reporting requirements are overly burdensome without providing any benefit to patients who rely on these services.”