Opinion: 340B drug program was created to help patients, not boost hospital profits

Enacted more than 25 years ago with bipartisan support, the 340B program was designed to help healthcare safety net providers deliver more affordable outpatient prescription drugs to vulnerable or uninsured patients. These safety net providers include certain hospitals, such as disproportionate share hospitals, or DSH hospitals, and children’s hospitals, as well as federal grantees, such as federally qualified health centers and Ryan White HIV/AIDS clinics.