Sinai Chicago, one of Illinois’ largest safety net providers, can invest in services like specialty clinics and medication management because of drug cost savings from the federal 340B program. Yet pharmaceutical manufacturers have been restricting provider participation in the program, undermining the program’s purpose and restricting patient access to drugs and healthcare services.

Dr. Wesley Gibbert with Erie Family Health Centers said helping low-income patients access affordable medications where they live is one of 340B’s most important roles. Two of his patients, a mother and son who both have diabetes, travel an hour from their Mundelein home to Chicago, and an hour back, because drugmakers arbitrarily restricted the FQHC to dispensing prescriptions at a single Chicago pharmacy.

HB 2371 will prevent drugmakers from dictating which pharmacies healthcare providers can work with or forcing them into arrangements that undermine provider operations.

Hospitals and FQHCs are urging House legislators to protect 340B. At a Feb. 1 rally, Sinai Chicago President and CEO Dr. Ngozi Ezike said, “We are standing up for those who are too often left behind, who are too often forgotten about. It’s time for our legislators to vote YES for HB 2371.”

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