Published by: Bruce Siegel on 9/6/2011 9:22:05 AM
For the people of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, 340b discounting has meant state-of-the-art cancer care for everyone.
Last week, I visited Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, an essential safety net health system for the region and beyond. Memorial is a public hospital serving the residents of Harrison County. Under CEO Gary Marchand’s leadership, Memorial has expanded services for ALL in the community while bringing a new level of excellence to the region. Memorial played a key role in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; staying open despite the devastation as helicopters transported patients from flooded hospitals in New Orleans and beyond.
More recently, Memorial was faced with a quieter crisis: Local residents who were uninsured or on Medicaid were unable to get services from local providers, and local care was not always the most advanced. Many were forced to either travel out of state or forego treatment completely.
Today, all residents can use the Memorial Cancer Center. With a team of five medical oncologists, a volunteer-staffed resource center, robotic radiosurgery and other cutting-edge technologies, the center helps make sure that patients can get diagnosis and treatment close to home. And being able to catch it early can make a huge difference to their survival.
None of this would have been possible without the 340b Drug Pricing Program administered by the federal government. Because of 340b, safety net hospitals can devote critical resources to care for their most vulnerable patients by saving sometimes millions of dollars on otherwise expensive drugs. It saves the government money and bolsters American communities. With340b discounting, Memorial saves on expensive cancer drugs; without it, Memorial Hospital could not serve its community with state-of-the-art cancer care. Today, as we push to extend the 340b program to inpatients, let’s remember that 340b saves money and lives.