The 340b drug discount program: oncology's optical illusion.

Figure: "My Wife and My Mother-in-Law" by William E. Hill (1915). High-quality oncology care can be very expensive, and often entails resourceintensive therapy given over moderate to prolonged periods of time. Patients who either do not have insurance or are underinsured can have difficulty accessing therapy. The 340b program was instituted approximately 2 decades ago with the intent of improving access to prescription drugs for indigent patients. The initial program was never oncology-specific, but in recent years it has become a key source of revenue for many oncology programs.