How Pharmacies Can Successfully Leverage 340B

At the American Associated Pharmacies (AAP) Annual Conference, held April 4 to 6 in San Diego, California, Eric Fromhart, co-founder and chief growth officer at Aventi Health, sat down with Drug Topics to discuss how pharmacies can successfully leverage the 340B drug pricing program to expand service offerings and improve patient care, and how pharmacies can mitigate any potential risks when participating in the program.

“One is educate yourselves,” Fromhart said. “I think there’s been some complacency…I think pharmacists have generally thought of 340B as ‘[It’s} not really my program, it’s for the hospitals and health centers. If I get a call that there’s an opportunity, I’ll consider it.’ Whereas if you are proactive and educate yourself on how it can be beneficial to your business and take some ownership of that, I think the clear benefits would almost fuel a proactive type of mentality in pharmacists. I think that’s really what it takes.”

Fromhart added that if pharmacists are interested in participating in the 340B program, there are many steps along the way to stay on top of. For example, having relationships or networks with vendors is important and can help the process go more smoothly. As far as any potential risks for pharmacists looking to participate in 340B, Fromhart said there are a few to keep an eye out for.

“There’s countless experiences and probably anecdotal stories that pharmacists could tell you about how 340B has burned them or how it wasn’t a great thing,” Fromhart said. “I would say, again, back to education, that having a contract slapped on your desk and signing that without understanding what it actually means is not always going to lead to you being in a successful situation. Again, understanding the program and how best to structure it. In my opinion, 340B can and should be a no brainer. You can’t not make money if you do it the right way.”

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