➤ 340B DRUG DISCOUNTS, from p.12
tion is among the groups slated to
be impacted by the changes.
“It’s something that is not just
an administrative change,” Bernardo
said. “It’s a massive impact
for safety net providers and for efforts
to end the epidemic here in
New York.”
The robust coalition working to
halt the impending changes includes
dozens of groups such as
the AIDS Healthcare Foundation,
Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Planned
Parenthood, the Latino Commission
on AIDS, the LGBT Community
Center, the Callen-Lorde
Community Health Center, Harlem
United, and the Treatment Action
Group.
Bernardo and others are underscoring
the ripple effect the changes
would have on both providers
and the clients they serve. He predicted
that some service organizations
would be shuttered entirely,
clients would lose access to the ongoing
care they need, and the compounding
consequences of those
realities would eventually mean
hospitals would be overwhelmed
with folks who couldn’t afford their
routine healthcare.
“People are going to be showing
up at hospitals and the cost of care
will explode,” Bernardo added.”
At Harlem United, which works
to provide housing, healthcare,
testing, vocational services, and
other offerings to more than 10,000
clients per year, CEO Jacqui Kilmer
stressed that the changes would
have a disproportionate impact
on low-income New Yorkers, the
LGBTQ community, and people of
color.
Harlem United currently uses
savings from the 340B program to
conduct outreach in communities,
transport individuals to clinics
and other facilities, and connect
individuals who are not virally
suppressed to case management
services as part of a broader goal
of ending the HIV/ AIDS epidemic,
Kilmer explained.
“People will get sicker, hospitalizations
and emergency room visits
will go up, and service providers
will lay staff off,” Kilmer said. “In
many cases they will have to shut
their doors.”
In October, more than 100 organizations
penned a letter to Governor
Andrew Cuomo expressing
Harlem United CEO Jacqui Kilmer said impending changes to a drug discount program would devastate
people’s health.
Housing Works, which operates thrift shops to support its health and housing services, will likely be
impacted severely by changes to a drug discount program.
“strong opposition” to the changes
and noted that up to 70 percent of
the clients served by 340B hospitals,
clinics, and organizations are
covered under a Medicaid managed
care plan.
The coalition is pointing to a
report published by the Menges
Group — a strategic health policy
and care coordination consulting
fi rm — that estimates the changes
will cost taxpayers $154 million in
HARLEM UNITED
MATT TRACY
one year.
When reached for comment on
November 23, the state’s health department
characterized the forthcoming
changes much differently.
“The Medicaid Redesign Team
II proposal to move the Medicaid
pharmacy program from managed
care plans saves taxpayers
millions of dollars by increasing
transparency, ensuring Medicaid
pays the best price for medications,
and eliminating unnecessary administrative
costs to health plans,
all while ensuring that consumers
continue to have access to needed
medications,” Jonah Bruno, a
spokesperson for the State Health
Department, said in a written statement
to Gay City News. “In the upcoming
fi scal year, we will allocate
more than $100 million dollars in
savings achieved through the carveout
directly to 340B providers.
Additionally, 340B entities will still
be able to purchase medications at
reduced 340B prices.”
The state health department
also noted that in accordance with
state law, the department convened
a 340B advisory group to fi gure out
how the state should distribute the
funding directly to 340B entities.
That group has met three times so
far and a fourth meeting will be
scheduled soon.
The service providers, however,
are foreshadowing a far more disastrous
scenario under which the
interruption in services they provide
could create dire healthcare
realities for many communities
that have already faced hardship
during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are going to be loud and do
the advocacy that the HIV/AIDS
community and community health
organizations have been known
for,” Bernardo added. “We are calling
on the governor, who has the
power to stop this, and the health
department, to rethink this.”
Bernardo and Kilmer said there
are efforts underway to engage
lawmakers with the hopes that
they can step in and help stop the
changes from being implemented
in April. A pending bill proposed
by State Assemblymember Richard
Gottfried of Manhattan and
State Senator Gustavo Rivera of
the Bronx, who chair their respective
chamber’s Health Committee,
calls for delaying the 340B changes
for three years.
Kilmer added that the coalition
has also facilitated conversations
with government agencies, underscoring
the sense of urgency on the
part of the service providers who
are likely to be impacted.
“For many people, this seems to
be a very complex issue when you
start talking about the 340B program,”
Kilmer said. “But the bottom
line is this: If this change in
the budget goes through, it would
devastate people’s health.”
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