2005 Vermont Code - § 2009. — Federal discount programs; study

§ 2009. Federal discount programs; study

The commissioner shall study and by January 1, 2005 report to the governor, the senate and house committees on health and welfare and on appropriations, and the health access oversight committee on the feasibility of providing discounted prescription drugs to Vermont's most vulnerable patient populations through the use of Section 340B of the federal Public Health Service Act, 42 United States Code § 256b (1999). The commissioner shall work with other state agencies, representatives of state employees, and representatives of health care providers and facilities in the state to provide the following information:

(1) A description of all health care providers and facilities in the state potentially eligible for designation as "covered entities" under Section 340B, including without limitation all hospitals eligible as disproportionate share hospitals; recipients of grants from the United States Public Health Service; federally qualified health centers; federally qualified look-alikes; state-operated AIDS drug assistance programs; Ryan White CARE Act Title I, Title II, and Title III programs; tuberculosis, black lung, family planning, and sexually transmitted disease clinics; hemophilia treatment centers; public housing primary care clinics; and clinics for homeless people.

(2) A listing of potential applications of Section 340B and the potential benefits to public, private, and third-party payors for prescription drugs, including:

(A) application to inmates and employees in youth correctional facilities, county jails, and state prisons;

(B) maximizing the use of Section 340B within state-funded managed care plans;

(C) the inclusion of Section 340B providers in state bulk purchasing initiatives; and

(D) using sole source contracts with Section 340B providers to furnish high-cost chronic care drugs.

(3) Discounts available through Section 340B contracts, including estimated cost savings to the state as a result of retail mark-up avoidance, negotiated subceiling prices, and coordination with the Medicaid program in order to minimize costs to the program and to other purchasers of prescription drugs.

(4) The resources available to potential applicants for designation as covered entities for the application process, establishing a Section 340B program, establishing state qualified health centers with concurrent federally qualified health center look-alike status, restructuring the health care system, or other methods of lowering the cost of prescription drugs. The resources must include state and federal agencies and private philanthropic grants to be used for the purposes of this section. (Added 2003, No. 122 (Adj. Sess.), § 128g.)