The Washington Post: Copycat comments, unwitting patients become part of federal rulemaking process | 340B Matters
17024
post-template-default,single,single-post,postid-17024,single-format-standard,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,qode-title-hidden,qode-theme-ver-9.1.3,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-4.11.1,vc_responsive

11 Sep The Washington Post: Copycat comments, unwitting patients become part of federal rulemaking process

“A proposal to sharply cut a drug discount program that many hospitals rely on drew some 1,400 comments when the Trump administration announced its plan last year. Hundreds appeared to come from patients across the country — pleas from average Americans whose treatments for diseases such as cancer depend on costly medicines.

But a review of the responses found that some individuals were not aware they apparently had become part of an organized campaign to oppose what’s known as the “340B” program. Some had no memory of signing anything, much less sending their opinions about it.

Of the 1,406 comments that specifically mentioned 340B — part of several thousand comments submitted on a broad proposal to revise medical payment systems — about half included the same or similar wording and were submitted anonymously, an analysis by Kaiser Health News found. Those comments lamented “abuse” of the drug discounts, faulted hospitals for being “greedy” and used phrasing such as “quality, affordable, and accessible.”

Two that were duplicated hundreds of times made the very same grammatical mistake.”

Read More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/copycat-comments-unwitting-patients-become-part-of-federal-rulemaking-process/2018/09/09/81dd6162-b2b8-11e8-aed9-001309990777_story.html?utm_term=.3d2558ec37c9

 

 

Want To Stay Up-To-Date On The Latest 340B News?