[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Pharmaceutical manufacturers, many of them based in foreign countries, are making it hard for hospitals like Franciscan Health Olympia Fields to turn savings on drug costs into services for patients. The hospital joined the federal 340B drug discount program “to help serve the uninsured and under-insured community residents in Olympia Fields and Chicago Heights.” The poverty rates in both Chicago suburbs are higher than the 11.6% state average—12.7% in Olympia Fields and 24.7% in Chicago Heights.

The hospital has put those savings toward services, including its:

• Outpatient Infusion Center that provides comprehensive cancer care;
• Medication to Bedside program that ensures medication access prior to discharge; and
• Pharmacist-managed Anticoagulation Clinics and Pharmacotherapy Clinics that improve medication outcomes and reduce hospital readmissions.

“The 340B program serves as a vital lifeline for safety-net providers to support critical health services in low-income or isolated rural communities, which are typically operated at a loss,” Franciscan Health said.

Since 2020, drugmakers have arbitrarily limited access to lifesaving medications acquired through the 340B program, making it harder for more than 100 participating hospitals in Illinois to invest in healthcare—and patients. For one safety net hospital alone, these restrictions have resulted in a $16 million hit.

Support Senate Bill 2385 and House Bill 3350 to prohibit drugmakers from interfering with hospital pharmacy contracts. Learn more.