BlackDoctor Weighs In on Senator Cassidy’s 340B Reform Proposal: Patients Must Be at theCenter

The 340B Drug Pricing Program was created to help certain hospitals and clinics stretch resources and serve vulnerable populations. Over time, however, questions have emerged about how the program operates, who benefits from it, and whether patients are seeing the intended impact.

To address these concerns, Senate HELP Committee Chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy recently released the 340B Drug Pricing Integrity and Affordability for Patients Act, a discussion draft aimed at strengthening transparency, accountability, and patient affordability within the program. The proposal follows years of bipartisan examination of 340B and includes provisions focused on ensuring patients benefit more directly from the discounts generated through the program.

As part of the Committee’s request for stakeholder feedback, BlackDoctor submitted comments emphasizing a simple principle: the success of the 340B program should be measured by the benefit it provides patients. 

In its letter to Chairman Cassidy, BlackDoctor expressed support for reforms that would increase transparency into how 340B revenue is used and whether those resources are helping lower costs and improve access to care for underserved communities. We noted that many patients, particularly those in Black communities, face ongoing barriers to affordable healthcare, including high prescription drug costs, medical debt, transportation challenges, and difficulty accessing information about available assistance programs.

BlackDoctor’s comments highlighted several key priorities:

• Keeping patient affordability at the center of any 340B reforms.
• Requiring meaningful public reporting on how 340B revenue is generated and used.
• Improving program transparency so patients and communities can better understand whether resources are reaching those they were intended to help.
• Supporting stronger program integrity measures, including improvements to claims verification and consideration of rebate mechanisms that increase accountability while protecting patient access to treatment.
• Establishing a clear, workable definition of an eligible 340B patient that reflects how care is delivered across providers, specialists, hospitals, and pharmacies.

The letter also stressed that public trust depends on transparency. Patients should be able to understand whether 340B resources are lowering out-of-pocket costs, supporting charity care, expanding access to medicines, or funding services that directly benefit underserved populations

As Congress considers reforms to the 340B program, BlackDoctor remains committed to elevating the patient perspective and advocating for policies that promote affordability, transparency, and equitable access to care.

Read BlackDoctor’s full comment letter: BlackDoctor Comment Letter Sen Cassidy 340B for Patients Act.