FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 18, 2002 |
CONTACT:
HRSA PRESS OFFICE
301-443-3376 |
HHS Approves Mississippi Demonstration Project
to Increase Safety Net Patients' Access to Prescription Drugs
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the approval of a novel
community health center project to help poor and uninsured patients
in the Clarksdale, Miss., area obtain access to pharmacy services and
lower-cost prescription drugs.
In the demonstration project, Aaron E. Henry Community Health Services
Center in Clarksdale will contract with five local pharmacies to make
medications and services more accessible to health center patients.
Through the contracts, patients will be able to obtain lower-cost prescriptions
from a pharmacy located a short walk or drive from where they live,
rather than having to travel greater distances to obtain their medications.
“With this innovative project, we will provide many low-income residents
of Clarksdale and Coahoma County with access to the prescription drugs
they need to get well and remain healthy,” Secretary Thompson said.
“We will continue to promote these kinds of projects and take other
steps to expand access to prescription drugs and health care to those
without adequate coverage across the country.”
The demonstration project is part of an HHS initiative announced in
June 2001 to help organizations that participate in the 340B drug pricing
program find creative ways to reduce administrative costs and make buying
prescription drugs easier for patients. Demonstrations were approved
earlier in
New York and Washington and Minnesota
and Georgia.
“In Clarksdale and surrounding communities, the need for affordable
health care, including prescription medications, is great -- more than
a third of residents live below the federal poverty level,” said Elizabeth
M. Duke, Ph.D., administrator of HHS’ Health Resources and Services
Administration. “With this project, more Aaron Henry patients
will get the vital medication they need.”
To participate, organizations must be eligible for the drug pricing
program established under Section 340B of the Veterans Health Care Act
of 1992. HRSA manages the program, which requires drug manufacturers
to sell drugs to specified safety-net health care providers at a discount
averaging 25 percent to 40 percent.
More information about the alternative method demonstration projects
is available at HRSA's Office of
Pharmacy Affairs web site.
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press materials are available at
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