Ventura County Medical Center | Drug Pricing Program
The 2017-2018 Ventura County Grand Jury opened an investigation after receiving a complaint about the Ventura County Medical Center’s 340B Drug Pricing Program.
The 340B program requires pharmaceutical companies to provide prescription drugs at significant discounts to hospitals and clinics serving large numbers of low-income patients.
In July 2015 an audit of VCMC was conducted by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. The audit discovered that VCMC received duplicate discounts on medications in the 340B program. A total of 107 pharmaceutical companies were affected by the duplicate discount billing. The total duplicate discounts were in excess of $3 million.
The Grand Jury concluded there was inadequate oversight of the VCMC 340B program prior to the HRSA audit. This resulted in VCMC being required to reimburse pharmaceutical companies at least $861,000 and potentially as much as $1.6 million. The Grand Jury recommends VCMC consider bringing in outside resources with extensive 340B program experience to assist in the supervision of a corrective action plan.
The Grand Jury concluded while VCMC conducts its own in-house audits of the 340B program, more critical audits should be conducted by an independent outside party. The Grand Jury recommends VCMC request the Ventura County Auditor-Controller conduct regular compliance audits of the 340B program.
The public is invited to review the entire report. It can be accessed at www.ventura.org/grand-jury; click on the Annual Reports tab and consult “Fiscal Year 2017-2018.” VCMC 340B Program FINAL
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