How the 340B Drug Pricing Program helps Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital meet its mission

About Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital

Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the best children’s hospital in Florida for 2024-2025, is an acute care children’s hospital that serves as the regional pediatric referral center for Florida’s West Coast. With 259 beds and over 3,000 health care professionals, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital is dedicated to advancing child health and providing family-centered care by offering resources and programs that support the well-being of children and families.

A disproportionate share of Medicaid beneficiaries residing in our service area seek treatment at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. The 340B program helps Johns Hopkins All Children’s offset losses incurred in caring for the most vulnerable and underserved in our community. In FY23, the hospital’s disproportionate share (DSH) percentage was 41.5%, well above the 11.75% that qualifies for 340B drug discounts. A key benefit of the 340B program is that by leveraging access to discounted outpatient drugs, Johns Hopkins All Children’s is better able to absorb the double-digit inflation rates and rapidly rising cost of drugs each year as we remain committed to our mission.

The Community We Serve

In 2022, our hospital conducted a triennial community health needs assessment (CHNA) to identify the most important health priorities and an implementation strategy to address them. Access to Health and Social Services; Mental Health and Substance Misuse; Maternal, Fetal, and Infant Health; Exercise, Nutrition, and Weight; and Immunization and Infectious Disease topped the list of concerns in our service areas based on surveys, town hall meetings and stakeholder interviews. Our most recent Community Health Needs Assessment provides a community snapshot, CHNA findings, strategic partnerships, community initiatives and economic development projects on the horizon.

For many years, the hospital has invested in programming and community support efforts well over and above the savings it receives from the 340B program.

Johns Hopkins All Children’s 340B savings of $14.9 million are a small fraction of the hospital’s estimated $78.3 million in Community Benefit activity in FY23.

Investing in Our Community

340B provides eligible hospitals with the financial flexibility needed to invest in tailored solutions that address the unique needs of their communities. As such, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital passes this benefit of financial assistance on to our patients and provides retail drugs at low or no costs to patients with need. If the program were eliminated or scaled back, safety net hospitals nationwide, like other 340B-eligible hospitals in the Johns Hopkins Health System, would struggle to maintain long-standing vital community partnerships.

Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital is focused on improving health outcomes for all children and reducing health care disparities that may impact children from under-resourced communities and those at high-risk for chronic illness.

Hospital Specific Programs of Note That Benefit from 340B funding:

• Newborn Medicine: The Maternal, Fetal & Neonatal Institute provides coordinated care for expectant mothers and their babies, particularly when the developing infant is at risk for serious congenital or health conditions. The team guides women through high-risk pregnancies and provides a Neonatal Follow-Up Care program to improve the long-term health of very low birth weight infants and other at-risk infants. A Neonatal Abstinence Program provides inpatient care for infants exposed to opioids or other drugs in utero, helping approximately 100 newborns each year. After discharge, the team provides periodic outpatient follow-up until age 5, including neurodevelopmental evaluation. The NAS clinic sees nearly 150 patients per year on our main campus and at outreach locations in three nearby counties. This is part of the overall 800-plus patients seen through the Neonatal Follow-Up Clinic at the same locations.
• Asthma: Our pediatric pulmonology program includes a collaborative team that works to reduce hospitalizations and connect patients and their families with hospital-based and community resources. Approximately 5,000 asthma patients are seen each year. Black and Hispanic children are at higher risk of asthma, making this multi-faceted approach especially important.
• Cystic Fibrosis: Accredited by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Cystic Fibrosis center provides ongoing care for 170 patients. Many of these patients are experiencing improved health and fewer hospitalizations on the class of medications called CFTR modulators. These medications require additional efforts by the ambulatory team for prior authorizations, specialty pharmacy communication, patient education, adherence, and management of medication side effects. The team also hosts a yearly education day for patients’ parents, grandparents and siblings, recognizing the important role that all members of the family can play in helping CF patients stay healthy and active.
• Sickle Cell Program: Our dedicated Sickle Cell Clinic Team treats 400 children and teens with this lifelong disease, which primarily impacts children of African, Caribbean, Mediterranean and Hispanic ancestry. The team’s comprehensive approach includes a focus on early treatment of sickle cell crisis, prevention and treatment of stroke, and patient education and symptom management to help patients complete high school and enroll in college.
• Hemophilia & Bleeding Disorders: Our nationally accredited center of excellence creates personalized care plans for more than 200 hemophilia patients and treats children with other bleeding disorders, helping them lead healthy, uncomplicated lives. Pharmacy services are an important feature of this multidisciplinary approach, resulting in significantly reduced risk of bleeding complications and hospitalizations.
• Pediatric Cancer: We provide comprehensive oncology care for infants through age 21, including access to the latest therapies and clinical trials. The leukemia and lymphoma program manages the care of 200 patients annually. Multidisciplinary care and the latest treatments for patients with central nervous system cancer and other solid tumors are also available. As a referral center for bone marrow and hematopoietic stem cell transplant, our center performed 26 transplants last year.
• Healthy Weight Initiative: Obesity in children and teens is linked to higher risk for type 2 diabetes and other chronic illnesses. The hospital’s Healthy Steps Clinic used a family-centered approach to help address obesity and maintain weight loss. The Community Health program runs a food pharmacy where patients and families with a prescription from their provider can receive healthy foods and nutrition education. Children and families in the community benefit from nutrition programs available to the public.
• Diabetes Care: Our team of pediatric diabetes physicians, nurses and educators annually provides care for more than 1,300 patients with type 1 and nearly 600 patients with type 2 diabetes, including programs led by advanced diabetes educators.
• Heart Institute: Our comprehensive approach to cardiac care includes treatment of the full spectrum of congenital and acquired heart disease. A preventive cardiology program includes a focus on treating teens with high cholesterol or hypertension.

At Johns Hopkins All Children’s, our commitment to the children in the communities we serve includes efforts to improve children’s access to medical care, offer educational programs to the community, equip individuals with needed resources, and address health care disparities. We take a listening and learning approach as we strive to address their most pressing needs and highest priorities through direct initiatives and leveraged partnerships to improve community health and wellness in our closest neighborhoods.

Learn more about our Health System’s continued commitment to the communities we serve at each of its six hospitals by visiting our Office of Government and Community Affairs Publications and Reports page.