# Drug Pricing Transparency and Accountability Act

This bill is about making hospitals more transparent when they buy discounted drugs through a federal program called 340B. Here's what you need to know about what it actually does.

The 340B program lets certain hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare providers buy prescription drugs at steep discounts directly from manufacturers. The idea is that these savings help providers serve low-income and uninsured patients. But there's been growing concern that some hospitals are using this program in ways that don't necessarily benefit the patients they're supposed to serve. This bill tries to fix that by adding more oversight and requiring hospitals to prove they're actually using the discounts appropriately.

The bill puts a temporary freeze on new hospitals joining the program for two years, specifically targeting non-rural hospitals that aren't government-owned. During this freeze, the government will write new rules about which hospitals can participate and what they have to do to stay in the program. After the freeze ends, hospitals will need to meet stricter standards to keep participating. For example, if a hospital has satellite clinics using the discount program, those clinics must be fully owned by the hospital, provide a full range of outpatient services (not just drugs), and follow the hospital's charity care policies. If a hospital stops meeting these requirements, it has to immediately stop buying discounted drugs and tell the government.

The bill also requires hospitals to report detailed information every year about how much money they make from discounted drugs, how much they actually paid for those drugs, what they pay to pharmacies to dispense them, and who their patients are (Medicare, Medicaid, uninsured, etc.). This information will be made public so patients and taxpayers can see how hospitals are using the program. Additionally, when hospitals bill insurance companies for these discounted drugs, they'll have to use a special code that identifies the drug as coming from the 340B program, making it easier to track where the discounts are actually going.

The bill also requires government agencies to study and report back to Congress about whether hospitals are actually providing more charity care because of these discounts, and whether the program is working as intended. These reports will help determine if further changes are needed.

Drug Pricing Transparency and Accountability Act

Rosendale, Matthew M.

Drug Pricing Transparency and Accountability Act This bill establishes a two-year moratorium on allowing new, non-rural hospitals and associated child sites to participate in the 340B drug pricing program; during the moratorium, the Department of Health and Human Services must issue regulations with specified program eligibility standards. The bill also requires additional reporting relating to program participation, eligibility, and costs.