(Oct. 24, 2025) – This week, KHA Board Chair George Stover submitted an opinion editorial to several Kansas newspapers highlighting the importance of the 340B Program for Kansas communities. In addition to serving as KHA board chair, George also is the CEO of Rice Community Health in Lyons, a rural Critical Access Hospital, like many of the hospitals in our state that benefit from the 340B. Below is the opinion editorial you hopefully will see in numerous Kansas papers in the coming weeks.
As the chairman of the Kansas Hospital Association board of directors and CEO of Rice Community Health, a rural Critical Access Hospital, I want to emphasize how vital the 340B Program is for Kansas communities. It’s an important safety net that helps communities, like ours, have access to affordable medications and health services.
The 340B Program enables our hospital, and 90 other hospitals in Kansas, to purchase and provide outpatient medications at significantly reduced prices so that we can stretch scarce resources. The resulting savings fund essential services and treatments for our most vulnerable patients. Beyond making prescriptions more affordable for senior citizens and low-income families, this program is crucial for delivering needed care in both rural and urban areas such as maternity care, cancer treatments and behavioral health services. Most visibly, it has been instrumental in keeping diabetic care, such as insulin, affordable for average Kansans.
Savings from the 340B Program are reinvested into our Kansas communities to improve patient care, retain services and fund community health initiatives. These savings support job creation and contribute to our local economy. The program also helps reduce overall health care costs by improving access to preventive care, increasing patient compliance with treatment regimens and reducing hospital emergency department visits and readmissions.
However, inaccurate information, pushbacks and undue limitations imposed by pharmaceutical manufacturers pose a threat to the 340B Program. If the program continues to be restricted by pharmaceutical manufacturers, our patients could lose access to affordable, life-saving medications, would have to travel longer distances to access care and medication, and hospitals in Kansas may be forced to reduce or discontinue medically necessary services for patients in need.
Last legislative session, the Kansas Senate recognized the importance of the 340B Program and its benefits to Kansans and health care providers by overwhelmingly passing legislation out of their chamber to protect the program. I encourage the Kansas House of Representatives to pass legislation as well. I also encourage Kansans to contact their elected officials and voice their support for the protection of a healthy and effective 340B Program. Choose Kansans over drug company profits.
We encourage KHA members to educate their local communities about how the 340B Program helps their hospitals provide access to essential health care services. KHA will continue statewide education on this program, but your partnership is crucial in informing policymakers and communities across Kansas. We suggest sharing this website in your communications: www.340BKansas.org. If you need talking points, templates or tools to help tell your story, please let us know.
--Chad Austin