High court rules against government on drug reimbursement – By Jessica Gresko (Associated Press) / June 15, 2022
The Supreme Court says the federal government improperly lowered drug reimbursement payments to hospitals and clinics that serve low-income communities
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Wednesday that the federal government improperly lowered drug reimbursement payments to hospitals and clinics that serve low-income communities, a reduction that cost the facilities billions of dollars.
The high court ruled unanimously in a case involving payments for drugs, largely for cancer, that are used by Medicare patients in hospital outpatient departments. The Biden administration had stood by a Trump administration decision to reduce the payments.
The government had said that the hospitals and clinics, because of their special status serving low-income communities, are able to buy the drugs at a deep discount. The government said reimbursing the hospitals, called 340B hospitals, at the same rate as other hospitals that pay more created an incentive for the hospitals to overprescribe the drugs or prescribe more expensive drugs. It said that lowering the reimbursement would also save Medicare beneficiaries money in co-payments because those are linked to reimbursement rates.
CONTINUE > https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/high-court-rules-government-drug-reimbursement-85410001
