Alicia Millette, 340B Program Coordinator, shares how 340B is an essential part of the health center. HOMETOWN serves rural central Maine with locations in Newport, Dexter, SBHC at RSU149, and a Mobile Unit. They offer medical services, dental services, behavioral health services, a prescription assistance program, and much more. They are currently constructing a new medical and wellness center in Palmyra to meet health care demands for the 20+ communities they serve in Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, and Waldo counties.
What is your role at HOMETOWN Health Center? I am the 340B Program Coordinator here at HOMETOWN Health Center. With the cost of food, housing, and utilities going up, every penny counts for our most vulnerable patients. I work closely with our 340B Vendors and Contract Pharmacies to assist patients who qualify for 340B assistance based on their income to get their prescriptions at a reduced cost.
What kinds of programs is HOMETOWN able to provide due to savings earned through the 340B program? We reinvest the savings received from the 340B Program into two important services at HOMETOWN, our Prescription Assistance Programs and Community Health Workers Program.
Our Prescription Assistance Programs work directly with patients and pharmaceutical manufacturers and/or charity organizations to help individuals access prescriptions at low or no cost.
Our Community Health Worker Program helps patients, and their families navigate and access community services. Not only do our Community Health Workers provide social support and informal counseling, but they work directly with our patients to assist in immediate needs such as food insecurity and transportation issues to access healthcare or pick up medications.
How have manufacturer restrictions on the 340B program impacted the services HOMETOWN provides to patients? The restrictions on the 340B program have had a negative impact on the services we provide. Our health center staff live in the communities we serve and have a direct understanding of how great the need for care is in this area. We want to expand these programs to reach more of our patients but find ourselves with less resources to care for our neighbors.
Why is it important to protect the 340B program? For HOMETOWN, the 340B Program allowed us to reinvest $279,000 in savings from the 340B program. While this may not seem like a lot of money, it ensured that we were able to get medications to our most at need patients with no copay worth over $300,000. It also allowed us to transport our homebound patients and bring them to their appointments and then to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions. These are real and tangible supports for our patients. Manufacturer restrictions continue to decrease the savings we should be able to access and will cause us to eliminate programs that are essential to Maine people.