Audit orders hospital rebates
Staff writer
St. Luke Hospital didn’t fare well in an audit of its 340B drug program.
The program is intended to support hospitals that serve low-income patients.
It allows hospitals to buy needed items at wholesale prescriptions, reducing the cost by as much as 50%.
The patient pays a price set by their insurance plan, and the hospital and pharmacy split the savings.
Chief executive Alex Haines told board members Tuesday that he already had written a letter to appeal the audit findings. He has 60 days to submit an action plan to address inaccuracies found by auditors.
The hospital had to submit information on six months’ prescriptions — about 15,000 of them — for the audit.
After 128 claims were selected for auditing, auditors decided six prescriptions didn’t qualify for drug discounts. Using the program for prescriptions that don’t qualify is considered diversion of 340B money.
The hospital was instructed to work with respective drug manufacturers to determine how much money needed to be paid back to the drug maker.
Inaccuracies auditors found were such things as the address for Hillsboro Hometown Pharmacy, which has moved since the pharmacy first contracted for the program.
Haines told board members he spoke with the hospital’s 340B consultant and decided to appeal the diversion finding.
It’s not the first time an audit has found a problem with the program.
A year ago, concern over the program arose when Marion pharmacist Traci Lanning questioned the amount of money the hospital sought from the pharmacy’s partnership in the program and demanded an independent audit of the program.
The independent audit showed the hospital had received a credit because of an incorrect price file from the hospital’s drug distributor. The hospital changed its third-party program administrator, auditor, and distributer.