ADAP Advocacy

NASTAD Releases 2025 Monitoring Project Annual Report The NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF STATE AND TERRITORIAL AIDS DIRECTORS 403(B) (NASTAD) has released its?2025 National RWHAP Part B ADAP Monitoring Project Annual Report. This is the 28th year of the report, which documents key trends, challenges, and triumphs of state and territorial AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs). The report is based on longitudinal data acquired through survey responses. The data covers fiscal year 2023 (FY2023) and calendar year 2023 (CY2023). Of the 58 surveyed jurisdictions that received ADAP earmark funding, 49 provided data. No fiscal or programmatic data were received from Alabama, Montana, West Virginia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or the Pacific Island Jurisdictions. Limited programmatic data were received from Alaska and South Dakota. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ehMr-Cg2

By Rescinding the Richardson Waiver, RFK, Jr Shuts Out Patient Advocates at HHS The federal government seeks input from the public to make “informed policy decisions” that affect many aspects of citizens' daily lives. A recent guidance letter from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) concerning broadening public participation and community engagement states, “Hearing from the individuals and communities most or uniquely affected by a particular issue can help agencies better understand how to address that issue, leading to more responsive and efficient policies and programs…Federal agencies are committed to making it easier for the American people to share their knowledge, needs, ideas, and lived experiences1 to improve how government works for and with them” (OMB, 2025). Yet, a recent rule change issued by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) published in the?Federal Register?seems to be in opposition to this transparency and public discourse. The rule rescinds the current policy regarding public participation in rulemaking in many areas governed by HHS (HHS, 2025). Read more: https://lnkd.in/eGGKdq_d

Our joint statement with Community Access National Network (CANN) on The Wall Street Journal reported funding cuts to #HIV Prevention programs...

Today, we expressed the following deep concerns to North Carolina's Senator Thom Tills and Senator Ted Budd & Representatives Richard Hudson, Virginia Foxx, Chuck Edwards, and Don Davis about the reported funding cuts to #CDC #HIV programs, as reported by The Wall Street Journal

Maryland and North Dakota Take Steps to Kick Their HIV Criminalizations Back to the 1980s HIV criminalization laws represent the worst of society’s response to the AIDS epidemic, rooted in fear, homophobia, and hysteria…and a lot of?misinformation. The United States was the first nation to enact HIV-specific criminal laws, dating back to 1986-87. HIV criminalization laws still exist, but the wheels of progress are slowly chipping away at them as medical advances have changed HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a manageable chronic disease. Equally important is the growing acceptance of the science behind “Undetectable Equals Untransmittable” (U=U), which has weakened the argument for these outdated, inhuman laws. Recently, two states, Maryland and North Dakota, passed bills to remove HIV criminalization laws from their statutes. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eQyehXAa

ADAP Advocacy Releases New Policy Paper on 340B Drug Pricing Program? Is the 340B Drug Pricing Program the Next ‘Too Big to Fail’? WASHINGTON, D.C.??– ADAP Advocacy today, as part of its 340B Project, published a new policy paper on the 340B Drug Pricing Program. The report –? “Is the 340B Drug Pricing Program the Next ‘Too Big to Fail’?”?– sounds the alarm on why common sense reforms are needed to ensure the integrity of the nation’s second largest federally sponsored drug program, behind only Medicare Part D.?The policy paper compares the 340B Program’s lack of meaningful accountability or transparency standards, especially among the big hospital systems, despite explosive growth to the collapse of the financial markets in 2007-08 after years of minimal federal oversight of the big investment banks. Brandon M. Macsata, CEO of ADAP Advocacy,?summarized: “The federal government, namely the Health Resources Service Administration, has struggled to address the concerns expressed by many experts who have weighed in on the program’s explosive growth. The agency’s lack of oversight mirrors that of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, which was asleep at the wheel leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. Concerning 340B, HRSA’s actions have ranged from being excessively slow to reign in duplicative discounts under Medicaid or drug diversion by contract pharmacies to the agency itself serving as an impediment to reform, evidenced by fighting drug manufacturers’ enhanced reporting requirements and efforts to protect the program’s integrity regarding drug sales through contract pharmacy arrangements. Whereas the SEC was impotent, showing little interest in oversight of the large investment banks leading up to the 2008 meltdown, HRSA has repeatedly fought serious efforts to add accountability and transparency standards.” Guy Anthony, ADAP Advocacy Chair, 340B Patient Advisory Committee, said: “What was needed in 2008 was bold, decisive action to shore up the nation’s financial institutions and thus the national economy…arguably the world economy. The 340B Program touches too many aspects of the healthcare system to be left on its current trajectory. A program lacking accountability and transparency standards is a program doomed to fail. This program is too big to fail.” Marcus J. Hopkins, ADAP Advocacy 340B Consultant, added:?“Patients’ lives depend on the success of the 340B Program, and it is questionable whether their health needs are being best served by the large hospital systems and mega service providers that are experiencing explosive revenue growth, along with substantial rewards for their executives. Consider the declining charity care hospitals offer patients and the medical debt crisis confronting many of these individuals.?The 340B Program is too big to fail, and we are working to ensure that doesn’t happen.” The paper can be downloaded here:?https://lnkd.in/eQzV-AFE. ####

IRA Spelling Trouble for Community Pharmacies, and Patient Access Could be Next The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) contains multifaceted goals to improve healthcare access and lower healthcare costs, including prescription drug costs (CMS, 2025). The Medicare Drug Price Negotiation program is one such initiative, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This initiative authorizes Medicare to directly negotiate the price of prescription drugs with manufacturers for outpatient drugs under Medicare Part D and later for physician-administered drugs under Part B. The initial ten drugs identified for “negotiation” have already been selected, and their new pricing will go into effect in 2026 under what has been termed the Maximum Fair Price (MFP). Whether the IRA’s lofty goals – such as lowering patient drug costs and lowering insurance premiums – are successful remains questionable. However, community pharmacies are already being adversely impacted by the new, untested pricing scheme, which could spill over and cause harm to patients. The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) recently?released an analysis?of the MFP’s potential unintended effects on pharmacies' financial stability and cash flow (NCPA, 2025). The picture is bleak. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e4WaKK7m

ADAP Advocacy Releases Supplemental Report on 340B Covered Entities? The 340B Drug Pricing Program and Its Potential Impacts on Annual Revenues, Executive Compensation, and Charity Care Provision in Eligible Covered Entities For Immediate Release:??????????????????????????????????????????????Media Contact: March 4, 2025?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????[email protected] WASHINGTON, D.C.??– ADAP Advocacy today, as part of its 340B Project and in collaboration with the Community Access National Network (CANN), published a supplemental report on the 340B Drug Pricing Program and its impact on covered entities’ executive compensation. The report – “The 340B Drug Pricing Program and its Potential Impacts on Annual Revenues, Executive Compensation, and Charity Care Provision in Eligible Covered Entities–Supplemental Report”?– found that among the 33 covered entities audited their annual revenues increased by an average of 772.92%, while executive compensation increased by an average of 237.11%. Brandon M. Macsata, CEO of ADAP Advocacy,?summarized: “Today, patients living with HIV can successfully access highly effective therapies to manage the disease and achieve undetectable status, thus making a?robust?340B Program essential. Unfortunately, that concept has warped into putting providers before patients. It makes no sense that patients aren’t reimbursed for the copayment made at the pharmacy counter, while in some instances, executives receive 1,000% or more pay increases. It is even more troubling to see hospitals reaping the benefits of this lucrative program as their provision of charity care as a percentage of annual revenues decreased by 34.80%.” The audit of the 340B-eligible covered entities included 15 Hospitals, 3 Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinics, and 15 HRSA-funded health Centers. The report can be downloaded here:?https://lnkd.in/eSiFnn6p. To learn more about ADAP Advocacy, 340B Drug Pricing Program, or the 340B Executive Compensation Report, please email?[email protected].

340B Paradigm Shift: New Rebate Model Puts Patients First, Not Providers Since its inception in 1992 up until 2010, patients were generally thought to have benefited from the 340B Drug Pricing Program. That perception began to change with the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), however. Although the expansion of the 340B program was supposed to have worked hand in glove with the ACA to expand the provision of affordable health care to the underinsured and uninsured, the 340B program, post-ACA, was accompanied by new challenges that have remained largely unchecked over the subsequent 15 years. The result is a program that has veered from its intended purpose. This is evidenced by explosive growth in the number of healthcare providers, or covered entities, participating in the program, while 340B hospitals have actually?reduced the charity care they offer to needy patients. The total value, at list price, of the purchases made under the program now exceeds $124 billion (Fein, May 2024), even as medical debt in the United States has soared to $220 billion (Rakshit, February 2024). An IQVIA study demonstrated that only 1.4% of 340B patients receiving 340B drugs through contract pharmacies had any assistance with their out-of-pocket costs at the pharmacy counter. But the growing chorus calling for reform of the 340B Program now includes a new idea: 340B pricing made available through rebates instead of upfront payments. Patients are beginning to ask if it is an idea that could benefit them? Read more: https://lnkd.in/e6cNrW7q

Infusion Clinics Could Expand Utilization of Long-Acting Injectables, but Barriers Hinder Access The advent of long-acting injectables (LAI) for HIV prevention and treatment is a noteworthy breakthrough in medical science. Despite the growing number of options and continuing clinical studies showcasing their efficacy, they are under-utilized. While there are various drug-level and patient-level barriers to LAI uptake, one of the most significant barriers is access at the system level (Cooper et al., 2022). Many people who would greatly benefit from LAIs for prevention and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in need of better options for treatment can’t access them. Logistics and coverage issues stand as obstacles to life-saving treatment and public health prevention. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eaCSsw2T