Hospitals: How the Novo Nordisk News Affects Your 340B Program

On December 1, 2020, Novo Nordisk released this Notice saying that they would no longer honor bill-to/ship-to distribution of 340B products to hospitals’ contract pharmacies.

In short, this means that as of January 1, 2021, Novo Nordisk intends to drastically reduce the 340B pharmacy networks of most U.S. hospitals that participate in 340B. Most 340B-eligible safety net hospitals rely on revenue generated through the 340B program to provide essential services in their communities, and this will likely have a great impact on their ability to do so,

This is the latest in a series of moves by big Pharma attempting to reduce or eliminate the discounts on drugs that the 340B program requires them to provide. Taking the political or rhetoric-filled responses out of this, let’s examine what this new rule means, from a practical perspective. Here are a few things we know:

1. For most organizations, Novo Nordisk drugs, insulins, in particular, represent a significant portion of the medications filled in their 340B programs.
2. While industry organizations like the American Hospital Association and the 340B Coalition will try to fight this new policy, the fact is that Novo Nordisk will implement it in less than a month.
3. Hospitals need to assess the situation now to determine the impact of this cut to their 340B Programs.

Reading the notice carefully, you will see that Novo Nordisk intends to honor 340B pricing at either the in-house pharmacy (if it serves outpatients), or one contract pharmacy, if the entity doesn’t have an in-house pharmacy that serves outpatients.

At Equiscript, we are uniquely positioned to help 340B hospitals manage this situation and protect their 340B programs - serving as many patients as possible through 340B despite these attempts to limit 340B access.

• If you don’t have an in-house pharmacy, or if your in-house pharmacy is for inpatients only, you can choose one contract pharmacy. In this case, we think it’s best to choose a pharmacy that can serve the broadest section of your patients.
  • We can help you with a home delivery pharmacy program that not only provides a much-needed service for patients, it also reaches patients across your full geographic coverage area, with coverage in all major PBM and insurance plans.
  • Additionally, Equiscript is the only 340B service provider who can help you identify the patients you are missing when you lose 340B eligibility for certain drugs at your contract pharmacies, and we are the only 340B service provider who is equipped to reach out to those patients to offer them pharmacy service within your 340B network.
• If you have an in-house pharmacy that serves outpatients, we can help you identify the patients who are-, or may soon be-, filing outside of your eligible 340B network. We can then call these patients to offer them the services of your in-house pharmacy.