Eli Lilly has told about 50 hospitals participating in a federal drug discount program to submit comprehensive claims data over the next five days or they will no longer receive the mandated price breaks.
The move comes after the company announced a policy last January demanding such data in a bid to reduce what it calls duplicate discounts paid to participating hospitals. The issue has riled the pharmaceutical industry and contributed to a long-standing clash with hospitals over the 340B drug discount program.
For the past few years, more than 2,300 hospitals have complied with the demand, but some of the larger hospitals systems around the U.S. have refused to do so, despite recent follow-up letters regarding the policy that went into effect on Feb. 1, according to Derek Asay, senior vice president for government strategy and federal accounts at Lilly.
