Natural State News

Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and John Boozman (R-Arkansas) are in support of S.773, commonly known as the 340B Program, legislation that will allow for Arkansas hospitals to participate in a prescription drug discount program.

The 340B program will allow for more than 40 Arkansas medical facilities to have access to lower prices on prescription drugs, despite the coronavirus having caused many facilities to be below the inpatient threshold allowing the facilities to remain in the drug program, according to a press release from Cotton.

"The 340B program allows Arkansas hospitals to stretch resources to provide care for those in underserved areas. Our bill will ensure rural hospitals can continue offering essential services and treatments to those most vulnerable," Cotton wrote in a Facebook post on April 20.

According to the release, many hospitals had to decrease its inpatient admissions of Medicaid and Medicare low-income patients because of the coronavirus, which is what helped deemed medical facilities eligible for the 340B program. 

“One of the top concerns I’ve heard from the Arkansas medical community is the need to protect the 340B drug pricing program. Extending eligibility to this lifeline is a commonsense step to ensure our hospitals and health care providers have the resources they need to care for low-income patients,” Boozman said, as reported in the release.

The program and reintroduction of legislation that would bring certainty for hospitals that take part in the 340B program has found much bipartisan support by U.S. Senators all over the nation. 

This legislation, S.773, will ensure that any hospital which was previously eligible for 340B will be deemed eligible for the time in which the public health emergency occurred for any cost reporting period during that time.