The 340B Drug Pricing Program is a federal program that gives Michigan Medicine and other hospitals a discount from the pharmaceutical industry on the cost of drugs.
Not funded by taxpayer dollars, the 340B program was started to enable hospitals to stretch scarce resources, reach more patients, and provide more comprehensive services.
Savings from this program are foundational for making all that we do here at Michigan Medicine and in our community possible.
For a more detailed version of the information on this page, download the PDF: Our 340B Story: Enhancing Patient Care & Community Health.
How We Use 340B Savings
At Michigan Medicine, we treat all who come to us, regardless of their ability to pay. As the academic medical center of the University of Michigan, we also tackle the most challenging diseases and provide breakthrough treatments that change the lives of our patients and directly impact the health and well-being of our community.
We use 340B savings in many ways to deliver on our mission to advance health care to our state and world. Here are just a few examples:
Supporting Our Community
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse: We support the Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network (OPEN), which works to reduce excess opioid prescriptions through research, guidelines, and improved disposal practices.
- Hunger and Food Insecurity: We support Meals on Wheels in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, our food pantry in the Ypsilanti Health Center, and fund grants to agencies fighting food insecurity. Recently, we distributed over 500 kitchen kits to families to encourage adding vegetables to diets.
- Military Support Programs and Networks (MSPAN): MSPAN provides innovative approaches to outreach, overcoming stigma and delivery of support programs for our service members and military families.
- Crucial Public Health program Funding: This includes a recent $9 million grant that funded initiatives focused on mental health, obesity, and pre- and perinatal health.
Lifesaving Research and Specialty Services for Michiganders
- Lifesaving Treatments for Patients in Need: We serve without regard to patients’ severity of illness, level of income or where they live. This includes treatments for our patients in need of organ transplants, complex cancer care, neurological care, cardiovascular care and more.
- Clinical Trials and Research Innovations to move medicine forward and develop new treatments.
- New Facilities and Enhanced Technologies and Services: We invest in new facilities to make accessing health care services easier and provide the best in technology and services. We provide emergency transport through our Survival Flight services.
- Home Infusion and Nursing Outreach Services: These allow us to service patients in their own homes.
Comprehensive Pharmacy Resources
- Pharmacy Discount Cards: These enable patients to purchase their prescriptions with just a $4 copay. In FY 2021, we dispensed over 17,000 prescriptions to patients in our M-Support program.
- Pharmacy Consultations and Resources: Our pharmacists consult daily with patient care teams to help advise on medications, address side effects, and help improve the comfort of our patients. We make sure patients have access to medications at affordable prices and can reach pharmacy experts for advice. Our network of community pharmacies remained open through the pandemic to serve our patients’ medication needs, even hand delivering medications to patients’ vehicles to help keep them safe.
Help for the Uninsured and Under Insured
- Prevention-Focused Primary Care: For patients across rural Michigan and Ypsilanti.
- COVID-19 Vaccine Clinics: For communities hit hardest by the pandemic with limited access to healthcare services.
- Patient Financial Advisors: Our team of patient financial advisors focuses on helping patients who cannot afford their medications.
- Charity Care and Flexible Payment Plans: These allow our patients to remain focused on getting well and not on their health care debt.
Monitoring and Reviews
Michigan Medicine is dedicated to transparent reviews of its 340B program and regular external audits demonstrate we are fully compliant with governmental regulations. Additionally, we routinely conduct our own internal audits.