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By the numbers (FY 2022): Realized 340B Program Savings: $349.7 million Charity Care & Medicaid Share of Uncompensated Care Costs: $282 million Medicare Share of Uncompensated Care Costs: $742 million Medicare Disproportionate Share Adjustment Percentage: 25.6%, representative of our Medicaid, Medicare and self-pay mix |
Our 340B Story
About UCSF Health
UCSF Health is a public academic medical center serving the greater San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California, the Central Valley and beyond. We deliver the highest quality care across a broad range of specialties, procedures and conditions.
We're proud to serve all members of our community, regardless of illness severity, income level or residential area. UCSF is one of the largest Medicaid providers in Northern California and the largest hospital serving Medicaid patients in San Francisco. Medicaid patients represent more than 23% of our total patient services, a number that has grown since California expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act. In fiscal year 2022, UCSF Medical Center provided more than $1 billion in uncompensated care to Medicare and Medicaid patients.
Benefits of the program
Savings generated from participation in the 340B program support UCSF's ability to provide health care services to the most vulnerable in our community, as well as offset financial losses incurred from caring for underinsured and uninsured patients. The 340B program has enabled UCSF to lower prescription drug costs for eligible low-income and underinsured patients. Additionally, UCSF provides a variety of services to support those in need within our community, including:
- Underwriting the cost of promising new treatments, such as CAR T-cell therapy for cancer and autoimmune disease
- Expanding access to specialty programs that perform lifesaving treatments, including organ transplants, complex cancer care, immunotherapies (such as bone marrow transplants), neurological treatments and neurosurgery, cardiovascular care and cardiothoracic surgery
- Sponsoring educational outreach events to help older adults in the Bay Area choose the most cost-effective Medicare Part D plans and maximize their existing drug benefits
- Subsidizing pharmacists who provide HIV management in clinics that largely serve Medicaid patients
- Employing patient assistance coordinators dedicated to removing financial barriers for our patients
- Providing chemotherapy and immunotherapy for Medi-Cal and uninsured patients at infusion centers and clinics, based on financial need
- Running a food bank that provides groceries to patients experiencing food insecurity
Impact of scaling back
At UCSF Health, we are deeply committed to our mission to care, heal, teach and discover. In the face of declining reimbursements over the years, UCSF Health has resisted reducing mission-critical services by using 340B program funding to maintain services essential to supporting uninsured and underinsured patients. Manufacturers have removed 340B pricing at contract pharmacies, directly affecting patients who participate in our community benefits program. Not only can these patients no longer afford high-cost medications that they need, but UCSF may also lose the funding required to provide or subsidize a wide range of essential services that thousands of patients rely on every year.