The order vacates the drug reimbursement rate for 340B hospitals in the 2022 OPPS Rule.
Susan Morse, Executive Editor – October 3, 2022
The Department of Health and Human Services must immediately stop the 30% drug reimbursement cuts to hospitals in the 340B program, a federal judge has ruled.
The order from Judge Rudolph Contreras with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejects HHS’ plan to wait until January 1, 2023, to restore the full outpatient drug payment rates to 340B hospitals.
The order vacates the drug reimbursement rate for 340B hospitals in the 2022 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Rule.
Contreras said, “HHS should not be allowed to continue its unlawful 340B reimbursements for the remainder of the year just because it promises to fix the problem later.”
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the 340B cuts for 2018 and 2019 were unlawful but had not ruled on 2020 or afterward.
The American Hospital Association said it is continuing to urge the administration to reimburse all the hospitals that were affected by these cuts in previous years.
