CHALLENGE
Maximizing The 340B Benefit for the Community
Morris Heights Health Center located in the Bronx, New York, is a Federally Qualified Health Center that treats over 50,000 patients annually through its network of 12 clinics and over 20 school-based health facilities. They are recognized as “The Caring Place”. Their challenge was that they were only seeing $50,000 in annual savings from their 340B program which was limiting the expansion of services that they could offer to the community.
Medication adherence was also presenting a significant challenge to the patients and providers for the following reasons: self-management behaviors, complex medical regimens, cost, asymptomatic disease, low health literacy to name a few.
The 340B program has become an integral part of the growth and development of many Federally Qualified Health Centers and look-alikes. Many organizations have struggled with the operation of their 340B program as they have navigated the waters without the value of a true partnership.
The objective of a well-run compliant program should empower qualified entities, benefit the well-being of patients, and advocate the pharmacies’ interest while experiencing significant savings for the covered entity.
The underlying goal of the health center program is to provide communities the opportunity to respond to community-based healthcare needs while driving economic development. Toward that end, the programs have facilitated the flow of public and private resources, enabling local communities to establish and operate health centers and to develop innovative programs to meet their health and community needs.
SOLUTION
In House Pharmacy, Outreach, Education, Analysis
We established an in-house pharmacy that was independently owned and operated and was prepared to co-brand and market the In-house pharmacy with the Morris Heights Health Center brand/logo and identity throughout the community to increase visibility and capture rate. The pharmacy is called” MHHC Pharmacy”. We utilized our internal marketing team to produce a comprehensive set of collateral materials to assist patients in their daily lives. Below are sample brochures that will help promote patient awareness of the clinic and pharmacy.
Upon reviewing the Morris Heights Health Center’s 340B program, we determined that their previous 340b administrator had only registered 2 of their sites with HRSA. These sites produced medications with the greatest savings. Our analysis determined that by registering all their sites they would experience a significant increase in cost savings. Our projection would take their savings from $50,000 annually to $1.2M annually.
RESULTS
From $50K to $2.3M in annual Savings
The annual savings exceeded the projected growth of $1.2 million and resulted in annual savings exceeding $2.3million.
The increased savings resulted in the expansion of services that the Morris Heights Health Center was able to offer the community while improving the health conditions of their patients through stronger medication adherence. It also provided assistance to the providers with their continuing education credits.
