AHA, ASHP seek meeting with FDA to address insurer 'white bagging' policies

Hospitals and health system pharmacists are urging the Biden administration to review insurer "white bagging" policies.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) sent a joint letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Wednesday requesting an opportunity to meet with FDA officials to discuss the practice.

Payers use white bagging to dispense drugs to hospitals, requiring these medications come from select network specialty pharmacies. AHA and ASHP said in the letter that doing so circumvents hospital supply chain protocols aimed at patient safety.

The practice also "challenges" the supply chain security issues that are addressed in the 2013 Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).

RELATED: UMass, CommonSpirit among collection of health systems to form new specialty pharmacy alliance

"White bagging has surged in frequency over the past decade, creating what amounts to a shadow inventory that hospitals and health systems do not legally own and which exists largely outside of the DSCSA’s track and trace requirements," according to the letter. 

"Given the growing ubiquity of payer-mandated white bagging, we are concerned that this practice threatens DSCSA’s underlying goals," the groups said.

White bagging also increases the risk of drug diversion and waste, according to the letter.