AHA defends HHS decision to reject 340B rebate models by drug companies

The AHA today filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, defending the Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to prevent drug companies from implementing a 340B rebate model. The brief was filed in a consolidated appeal involving five drug companies. The AHA said such models from drug companies would devastate hospitals financially.
“In a world of finite resources, 340B hospitals will have no choice but to divert funds away from patient services and towards burdensome compliance,” the AHA wrote. “All of these consequences ‘frustrate’ the goal of the 340B statute.”
Authored in-house by Chad Golder, AHA general counsel, the AHA was joined in the filing by the Children’s Hospital Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges and America’s Essential Hospitals.