As President & CEO of a rural Vermont health system, I’ve witnessed many of our offerings evolve, from expanded access to medical technology to our specialty care. But one thing has remained the same – our commitment to provide access to high-quality, comprehensive, and affordable health care for rural communities and patients.
Unfortunately, however, this care is becoming more and more challenging to provide as health care labor, supply chains, and operating costs continue to rise while Medicare and Medicaid payments continue to lack the necessary coverage for the costs hospitals incur to provide care.
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That’s why our organization and countless other hospitals around the country rely on a critical program – the 340B Drug Pricing Program – to support our mission. The 340B program enables hospitals and health systems like ours to access prescription pharmaceuticals at a reduced price. This, in turn, allows our organization and other 340B hospitals nationwide to offer more comprehensive services to our communities and patients—many of whom are low-income, seniors, and medically vulnerable individuals. This includes financial assistance programs as well as a range of innovative, community-based health care offerings and services.
Like most 340B hospitals, the vast majority of the patients we serve are older or individuals with disabilities covered by government programs. In fact, more than 70% of the care we provide is for patients enrolled in either Medicare or Medicaid. These government programs chronically underpay for care, which alone puts significant financial pressure on hospitals like ours that serve a disproportionately larger share of these patients.
As our nation’s aging population continues to grow, the demand for health care targeting the unique needs of senior patients will only increase—putting an even greater strain on 340B hospitals like ours. Maintaining, protecting, and strengthening the 340B program is critically important to help offset the losses hospitals face due to underpayments.
Moreover, savings from the 340B program help support and fund critical workforce development programs as well as specialty and primary care services that allow us to recruit and retain the professional support needed to meet the many complex care needs of the patients and communities we serve.
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That includes a transitional care nursing program that provides patients with at-home support services after being discharged from the hospital. By meeting patients where they are and proactively addressing health needs, the program has significantly reduced hospital readmission rates and the average hospital length-of-stay, allowing patients to recover and rehabilitate safely in their own homes while maintaining their quality of life.
Additionally, our organization has expanded access to critical oncology services by using 340B savings to help sustain our regional cancer center, which is accredited by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. This regional facility helps bring cancer care closer to patients’ homes, improving access and reducing costs while eliminating the need for our rural patients to travel long distances to access oncology care.
As with many rural communities, the patients we serve often struggle to access primary care. The 340B program has been essential in allowing us to expand primary care access by opening several clinics in communities with particularly high rates of chronic diseases—again, helping meet patients’ needs in their local communities rather than forcing patients to travel to the emergency room.
The 340B program has also helped our organization improve our health care staffing pipeline and address the workforce shortages in our community and throughout the country. Leveraging 340B savings, we have been able to pilot several innovative programs—partnering with local colleges, allowing nursing students to complete clinical rotation, and supporting existing staff interested in transitioning to a career in nursing by paying them while they complete their academic studies—all aimed at developing a stronger, more robust health care workforce.
In short, our organization could not sustain itself or the programs we provide to improve the health and well-being of our community without savings from the 340B program. We are incredibly proud of the work we have done to meet the unique health care needs of our community for over 100 years. To ensure that rural hospitals like ours can continue delivering high-quality, comprehensive health care, the federal government must support and protect the 340B Drug Pricing Program that enables us to do what we do best.
Photo: ipopba, Getty Images
Thomas A. Dee is the president and chief executive officer of Southwestern Vermont Health Care.
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