AUCH Communications Peer Group

Summary of recent health center/340B press 

10-14-2022 12:29

At the last Communications Peer Group meeting, we briefly discussed some national press that has been unflattering to health centers and the 340B Drug Pricing Program. We wanted to give you a more in-depth summary of what stories have ran. As a reminder, we strongly encourage health center to reach out to AUCH in the small chance that you are contacted by Phil Galewitz any reporter or journalist on these subjects.

 

We want to assure all of you that the health centers and 340B entities being targeted by these stories are outliers. AUCH and our national partners continue to remind stakeholders that the 340B Drug Pricing program and community health center program are vital to medically underserved communities. However, AUCH feels it is important that health center communications staff understand the narrative that is being painted about these programs.

 

Below is the a summary of the recent “bad press.” I’ve also attached PDFs of each article, as they are paywalled.

 

August 12, 2022: Washington Post Article, “For a few community health centers, serving the poor brings big surpluses

 

This article focuses on a South Carolina health center and others that recorded revenue surpluses of 20% or more.

 

September 24, 2022: New York Time Article, “They Were Entitled to Free Care. Hospitals Hounded Them to Pay.

 

This article large discusses how a non-profit, 340B-eligible hospital system “trained staff to wring money out of patients, even those eligible for free care.”  While the article does not explicitly mention 340B, some 340B opponents are linking the two articles together as examples of how 340B providers abuse the program.

 

September 24, 2022: New York Times Article, “How a Hospital Chain Used a Poor Neighborhood to Turn Huge Profits

 

This article accuses a hospital system in Virigina of taking 340B savings from low-income neighborhoods and investing those savings into their sites in wealthier neighborhoods.

 

NACHC has also informed us that there will likely be an article running in the Washington Post, by the same author as the WP article attached, which focuses on large Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) payouts to health center patients for medical malpractice claims. It is expected that only the most egregious judgements will be discussed, with one payout being upwards of $42 million. We will share this article with the group once it is released.

 

Please feel free to reach out with any questions. While the above may seem alarming, we do not expect any Utah health centers to be named in any future articles. Again, if you are contacted by Phil Galewtiz or any other reporters, we strongly recommend you reach out to AUCH before responding.

 

Thank you for all that you do!

Statistics
0 Favorited
3 Views
3 Files
0 Shares
0 Downloads
Attachment(s)
pdf file
For a few community health centers, serving the poor brin....pdf   132 KB   1 version
Uploaded - 10-14-2022
pdf file
How a Hospital Chain Used a Poor Neighborhood to Turn Hug....pdf   25.70 MB   1 version
Uploaded - 10-14-2022
pdf file
They Were Entitled to Free Care. Hospitals Hounded Them t....pdf   33.23 MB   1 version
Uploaded - 10-14-2022

Tags and Keywords

Related Entries and Links

No Related Resource entered.