House committee hears hospital testimony on 340B drug-pricing program as panel reports House Bill 4032

At a meeting of the Michigan House Health Policy Committee, hospital leaders and a pharmaceutical industry representative delivered competing views of the federal 340B drug‑pricing program and its local impact; the committee also voted to report House Bill 4032 with recommendation.

The 340B program "is an essential safety net program that supports access for vulnerable communities and healthcare providers that care for them," Elizabeth Cutter of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association said in testimony. Cutter said 340B is "a non taxpayer funded program" and described it as one way hospitals keep local services such as cancer care, labor and delivery and community‑based programs operating.

Why this matters: Witnesses from multiple hospital systems described services—rural obstetrics, oncology infusion, behavioral health units, charity care and medication assistance—that they said rely on savings from 340B. Pharmaceutical‑industry testimony warned that state measures intended to protect those services can produce other effects, such as higher costs for employers and state purchasers, and raised concerns about the program’s rapid growth, especially in contract pharmacy arrangements.

Hospital testimony

Representatives from McLaren Healthcare and Memorial Healthcare described how they use 340B savings locally. Deidre Wilson, senior vice president of government relations and public policy for McLaren Healthcare, said the system’s covered hospitals use savings "based on local community needs," including support for rural clinics, patient assistance funds and free distribution programs such as Narcan in emergency departments.

Maureen D'Agostino, McLaren’s vice president of accreditation and regulatory programs, said McLaren operates nine hospital organizations that participate in 340B and that the system used program…