Development of a metrics dashboard for monitoring involvement in the 340B Drug Pricing Program

PURPOSEAn electronic tool to support hospital organizations in monitoring and addressing financial and compliance challenges related to participation in the 340B Drug Pricing Program is described. SUMMARYIn recent years there has been heightened congressional and regulatory scrutiny of the federal 340B program, which provides discounted drug prices on Medicaid-covered drugs to safety net hospitals and other 340B-eligible healthcare organizations, or “covered entities.” Historically, the 340B program has lacked a metrics-driven reporting framework to help covered entities capture the value of 340B program involvement, community benefits provided to underserved populations, and costs associated with compliance with 340B eligibility requirements. As part of an initiative by a large health system to optimize its 340B program utilization and regulatory compliance efforts, a team of pharmacists led the development of an electronic dashboard tool to help monitor 340B program activities at the systemʼs 340B-eligible facilities. After soliciting input from an array of internal and external 340B program stakeholders, the team designed the dashboard and associated data-entry tools to facilitate the capture and analysis of 340B program-related data in four domainscost savings and revenue, program maintenance costs, community benefits, and compliance. CONCLUSIONA large health system enhanced its ability to evaluate and monitor 340B program–related activities through the use of a dashboard tool capturing key metrics on cost savings achieved, maintenance costs, and other aspects of program involvement.