Batesville, Ark.-based White River Medical Center has filed a complaint to its state's insurance department that accuses Novo Nordisk of restricting drugs that are part of the 340B program, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Nov. 24.
In the complaint, White River said some of its contract pharmacies have been denied Novo Nordisk's products through the hospital's 340B accounts. The drugmaker disagreed with White River but said "the 340B program has been the subject of significant and well-documented abuses."
"Novo Nordisk continues to support the 340B drug program so that uninsured and vulnerable patients continue to have access to outpatient drugs," a spokesperson told Becker's.
The Arkansas Insurance Department Rule 123, which was implemented Sept. 30, states drugmakers cannot "exclude a pharmacy from a network on the basis of a pharmacy's participation in 340B pricing."
The alleged restrictions have cost White River about $1 million, according to the complaint.