University of Missouri Health Care in Columbia, Missouri, is an academic health system dedicated to patient care, research and education.
Caring for patients from each of Missouri’s 114 counties, MU Health Care focuses on advancing care for the simplest and most complex conditions, researching breakthroughs for today’s most prevalent health problems and training the next generation of health care providers. With a combined expertise of nearly 7,000 faculty physicians, researchers, nurses and other health care professionals, the academic health system educates over 2,000 students, residents and fellows each year and serves nearly 240,000 patients.
MU Health Care is eligible to participate in the 340B program because our medical centers provide care to a disproportionate share of low-income Medicare and Medicaid patients.
340B: A federal program supporting safety-net providers
The 340B prescription drug program supports our role as a safety-net provider in offering vital health care services for the communities we serve. The program is narrowly tailored to only hospitals that provide a high level of services to low-income individuals or serve isolated rural communities. 340B hospitals – which include trauma centers, labor and delivery services, HIV-AIDS services and immunizations – provide significantly more money-losing but vital health services than non-340B hospitals.
Benefits of the 340B Program
MU Health Care is one of two designated safety net providers for the state of Missouri. Savings realized through participation in the 340B program support MU Health Care’s ability to provide services to under-insured and uninsured patients, regardless of their ability to pay, and to address health care needs in our community. The 340B program allows MU Health Care to offer co-pay assistance and other support to low-income patients who need prescription drugs. In addition, the 340B program enhances MU Health Care’s ability to:
- Provide comprehensive services that are greatly needed. Services include cancer care, women’s and children’s services, behavioral health, infusion services, and the region's only Level I trauma center and only comprehensive Level III neonatal intensive care unit.
- Contribute to programs that provide financial assistance to the large and growing indigent population while allowing MU Health Care to meet its obligation to patients and the region.
- Reinvest in our communities through outreach and population health initiatives.
Impacts if 340B is scaled back
Scaling back the 340B Program would threaten MU Health Care’s capacity to offer the services described above to our patients.