{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-and-colleagues-introduce-legislation-to-strengthen-and-reform-340b-drug-program", "Kaine & Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Strengthen and Reform 340B Drug Program", "2026-08-05", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "VA", "Tim Kaine", "K000384", "www.kaine.senate.gov", "kaine", "https://www.kaine.senate.gov/news", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), and John Boozman (R-AR), members of the Senate 340B Bipartisan Working Group, introduced the SUSTAIN 340B Act, bipartisan legislation to strengthen and reform the 340B program. The 340B program requires that drug manufacturers that participate in Medicaid provide certain covered entities, including non-profit health care providers, such as hospitals and community health centers, a discount on outpatient drugs. The 340B program enables covered entities to use these savings to provide more comprehensive services to patients and their communities.\n\n\u201cThe 340B program has been an important program that has helped health care providers better care for communities across Virginia, especially those in rural and underserved areas. At a time when clinics and hospitals have been forced to close due to massive cuts to Medicaid and other federal health programs, it\u2019s critical that Congress acts to help providers and ensure Americans continue to have access to the care they need,\u201d said Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. \u201cI\u2019m grateful to the many health care providers and stakeholders around Virginia who have provided feedback about ways to improve the stability and integrity of the 340B program. This bipartisan legislation makes needed reforms to strengthen the 340B program and help ensure patients are benefiting. I\u2019m committed to working with my colleagues to pass these reforms.\u201d\n\nSpecifically, the SUSTAIN 340B Act would:\n\nSense of Congress \u2013 Reiterate the original intent of the 340B program and clarify the program provides point-of-purchase discounts, as opposed to rebates.\n\nContract Pharmacy \u2013 Codify covered entities\u2019 use of contract pharmacies while placing reasonable limitations including registration, audits of covered entities with a large number of contract pharmacies, and standardization of contractual requirements between covered entities and contract pharmacies. The bill does not place numeric or geographic limitations on the use of contract pharmacies.\n\nPatient Definition \u2013 Establish the definition of an eligible patient under the 340B program and covered services for these patients. It also adds requirements and oversight for 340B patients being dispensed 340B drugs through referrals to non-covered entities.\n\n340B Rebate Model Pilot Program \u2013 End any 340B Rebate Model program within one year and require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) transition to the clearinghouse established in the legislation.\n\nChild Sites \u2013 Establish that child sites must be wholly owned and integrated with the parent covered entity, disincentivizes child site acquisitions with the sole purpose of expanding 340B footprints, and directs HHS to establish registration and oversight procedures.\n\nTransparency \u2013 Place new annual reporting requirements on covered entities relating to their utilization of the 340B program.\n\nProgram Integrity \u2013 Give HHS authority to establish auditing and reporting procedures for compliance under the 340B program and authorize removal of covered entities who are found in noncompliance and do not implement corrective action plans.\n\nSafeguards to Prevent Duplicate Discounts \u2013 Establish a 340B data clearinghouse operated by an independent, third-party entity to prevent diversion and duplicate discounts in the 340B program.\n\nPatient Financial Assistance \u2013 Require covered entities to establish a standard, transparent patient financial assistance policy for patients at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.\n\nEquitable Treatment of Covered Participants \u2013 Prevent insurers from discriminating against 340B covered entities and their contract pharmacies.\n\nUser Fee Program \u2013 Establish a user fee program for participation in the 340B program to pay for program administration, including the clearinghouse.\n\nStudies and Reports \u2013 Require reports to Congress on hospital debt collection practices, dispensing fees, and data collection system integration.\n\nAdditional Resources \u2013 Authorize three million dollars annually for five years for conducting oversight and enforcement and nine million dollars annually for four years for bill implementation.\n\nDefinitions \u2013 Establish definitions for \u201cchild site\u201d and \u201ccontract pharmacy.\u201d\n\nFull text of the legislation is available here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-06T07:37:31Z", "2026-08-06T07:38:34Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-and-colleagues-introduce-legislation-to-strengthen-and-reform-340b-drug-program"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.2796050179749727, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}