Community health centers that primarily serve low-income patients fear Gov. Bob Ferguson\u2019s proposed supplemental budget will hamper their ability to participate in a discounted drug program, collectively costing them millions.<\/p>\n
Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), often coined safety net providers, receive incentives to see patients on Medicaid, or Apple Health in Washington.<\/p>\n
These health centers, such as Unity Care NW and Sea Mar Community Health Centers, which jointly serve tens of thousands of patients annually in Whatcom County, participate in the Medicaid 340B Drug Pricing Program. The federal program allows them to purchase drugs at a discounted rate from manufacturers. Drug makers wanting to participate in Medicaid are required to utilize the 340B program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The federal law requires community health centers to invest their savings from participating in the 340B program back into providing care. By switching to a fee-for-service reimbursement program, the governor\u2019s budget would change how providers bill for drugs that are normally discounted.<\/p>\n
While the impact on patients remains unclear, community health centers say this change would result in them receiving significantly lower reimbursements for the prescription drugs they provide to Medicaid participants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit shortsighted,\u201d said Michael Leong, Sea Mar Community Health Center\u2019s senior vice president for corporate and legal affairs. \u201cWe\u2019re very disappointed the governor adopted this approach. Financially, it does not make good sense at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferguson is attempting to salvage an estimated $2.3 billion shortfall with the supplemental budget. However, providers say the state will only see a fraction of any savings made.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the Medicaid system, whatever savings the state achieves, 75 percent of it goes back to the federal government, so it leaves Washington; it doesn\u2019t help our economy, and it certainly doesn\u2019t help providing care in this state,\u201d Leong said.<\/p>\n
If the budget is adopted as is, Sea Mar will be forced to stretch its dollars, Leong said. Avoiding service cuts and layoffs would become top priorities, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to try as best as we can to avoid any cuts,\u201d Leong said. \u201cIt is something that we might eventually have to come to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patients who rely on Medicaid for discounted medications would immediately feel the impact of the changes to the pharmacy program, Lisa Nelson, chief pharmacy officer of Unity Care NW, said in written comments to Cascadia Daily News.<\/p>\n
Nelson, who\u2019s been advocating in Olympia for the state to keep Washington\u2019s Medicaid pharmacy benefit program in managed care, said Unity Care NW is facing a $2.4 million annual reduction in reimbursements if the state change is implemented. The revenue from the discounted medication program allows Unity Care NW to provide care to uninsured and underinsured patients, Nelson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will need to make difficult decisions to minimize the impact of these cuts to our patients and our services,\u201d if the budget is unchanged, said Nelson, who is also the co-chair of the National Association of Community Health Centers\u2019 340B workgroup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unity Care NW serves nearly 25,000 patients a year, 60% of whom use Medicaid, and runs two pharmacies in Whatcom County. Unity Care NW has posted a callout asking community members to email their state lawmakers about the 340B program.<\/p>\n
Community health centers\u2019 uncertainty surrounding the 340B program comes as they prepare for additional impacts in 2027 from federal cuts to health care. Safety net providers are expecting to see more uninsured and underinsured patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the current federal administration, I don\u2019t see things getting better, which is why more than ever we need our state government,\u201d Leong said.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the governor told The Seattle Times that people who want more funding for programs they support can propose what other parts of the budget can be cut to provide the funding they\u2019re seeking.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really not in a position to tell the governor or legislator where else they should cut from,\u201d Leong said. \u201cWhat we ask for is that the Legislature and the governor consider revenue-generating to make up for the shortfall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sea Mar provides medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy and school-based services throughout Whatcom and Skagit counties on a sliding scale regardless of patients\u2019 ability to pay. Legislative committees in both the state House<\/a> and Senate<\/a> are currently considering companion bills concerning patient access to discounted medications through the 340B program. Unity Care NW is advocating in Olympia for the passage of both bills.<\/p>\n The Community Access National Network, a nonprofit that testified in opposition to the legislation, is running digital advertisements<\/a> in Washington saying that the state legislation would increase costs for patients and government programs.<\/p>\n Although safety net providers find themselves in a precarious situation under the Trump administration, threats to the discounted drug program aren\u2019t new.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 340B program has come under attack because pharmaceutical companies don\u2019t like it,\u201d Leong said. \u201cThey don\u2019t like giving up their additional profits.\u201d<\/p>\n Owen Racer<\/a> is a Report for America<\/a> corps member who covers health care and public health in Whatcom and Skagit counties. Reach him at owenracer@cascadiadaily.com<\/a>; 360-922-3090 ext. 101. Learn more and donate at cascadiadaily.com\/rfa<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Community health centers that primarily serve low-income patients fear Gov. Bob Ferguson\u2019s proposed supplemental budget will hamper their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[163,85,46,482],"class_list":["post-272733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Washington\u2019s state hospital association, of which PeaceHealth St. Joseph is a member, also expressed its frustration<\/a> with the governor\u2019s budget, saying it \u201cfails to recognize the perilous financial position for hospitals created by state-imposed payment cuts and tax increases and the federal,\u201d tax and spending law signed by Trump in 2025.<\/p>\n