340B Pulse

340B Pulse is a NorthArc Health podcast powered by PureLogics.Built on nearly two decades of experience developing healthcare systems, data platforms, and compliance-driven environments, this podcast focuses on the real operational side of 340B including claims validation, reporting gaps, manufacturer requirements like ESP and Beacon, and program defensibility.This is not about noise or high-level theory.It’s about operator-level conversations — how 340B programs actually function, where friction shows up, and what it takes to run them effectively in the real world.

340B Pulse is a health podcast hosted by NorthArcHealth, with 18 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

NorthArcHealth hosts 340B Pulse, a health show with 18 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  340B Pulse

  Ask for the Fees Back: Real Vendor Accountability in Multi-State 340B | Dr. Maria Campanella

  Aug 17, 202633 min

  A multi-state 340B program is a single covered-entity operating model applied across hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, vendors, and state regulatory environments that do not match each other. Dr. Maria Campanella, who leads 340B operations and compliance across a multi-state nonprofit health system, explains what such a program must standardize, what state law forces it to localize, and how to govern vendors on outcomes rather than service levels. At a single site, the question is whether a claim was processed correctly. Across a dozen states, that question stops being the one that matters. In this episode, Dr. Maria Campanella walks host Muhammad Atif through the operating model behind a large multi-state 340B program. She has managed a Ryan White clinic in Atlanta, directed 340B operations and compliance at a nonprofit health system, and now leads the function across hospitals and clinics in markets throughout the U.S. She is direct about what scales and what does not. TPAs, policies, procedures, SOPs, and the compliance core stay standardized everywhere. Legal contracting cannot be, because state law dictates it. Every local market feeds one centralized dashboard so a missing-claims error in one state can be checked against every other. Support tickets get consolidated specifically so a repeating pattern becomes visible and a team can conclude that a vendor's fix is not working. She is equally candid about the rebate model, the PHI question nobody has answered, and exactly where she thinks AI helps a 340B team and where it does not. 00:00 Cold open 01:22 Introduction to 340B Pulse 03:01 Dr. Maria's journey into 340B 03:53 When site-by-site management stops working 05:36 Does centralization create bottlenecks or efficiency 06:52 Justified local variation vs a normalized control weakness 08:25 A controlled inventory of variations and drug procurement 09:25 Internal audits: site-level, centralized, or both 10:19 Why more reports do not mean more control11:14 Building one centralized dashboard 13:19 Document management across multi-site programs 14:44 Vendor accountability: administering a contract vs governing it 16:34 What to validate independently of vendor reports 17:27 When a vendor meets the SLA but misses the outcome 18:33 Today's pressure: HRSA rebate model, 340B ESP, Truzo 21:44 Keeping manufacturer policy change consistent across sites 23:16 The rebate model, advocacy in DC, and patient impact 25:19 Administrative burden and the PHI question 26:23 Where AI actually helps a 340B team 27:30 Rapid fire round 30:51 One principle for scaling without losing control 32:15 How to connect with Dr. Maria What should a multi-state 340B program standardize first? The compliance core comes first: diversion prevention, duplicate discount prevention, and high WAC spend monitoring, along with policies, procedures, and SOPs. Dr. Maria calls these the core heartbeat of the program, and they should look identical at every site. Which 340B metric tells a leader more than total savings? A monthly report comparing WAC spend against 340B spend. Total savings and claim volume both rise with growth even when a program is drifting, but the WAC-to-340B comparison shows whether the program is actually becoming more efficient. Can a covered entity recover money from an underperforming vendor? Yes, where the shortfall relates to contracted work. If accumulations covered in the contract are being missed, the covered entity can request that the vendor credit back the administration fees paid for that service. Does AI replace 340B compliance staff? No. Dr. Maria's line is that AI helps with reporting and analytics, including tracking which manufacturer paid a rebate and which did not, but the hands-on submission, monitoring, and appeal work still requires a person. #340BProgram#HealthSystems#VendorManagement#HealthcareCompliance#PharmacyOperations

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  340B Pulse

  The Report Half of Covered Entities Can't Run: 340B Operations That Work | Kaitlyn Weckhorst Wood

  Aug 10, 202640 min

  Every quarter brings another pricing impact, another piece of state legislation, another manufacturer restriction. Most covered entities have settled into bracing for the next hit. Kaitlyn Weckhorst Wood argues that the work which actually protects a program is smaller and duller than the headlines, and it is available right now. She has seen it from both sides: pharmacy analyst at Oklahoma Medicaid, then 340B program manager at an academic health center, and now a 340B Pharmacy Account Executive at SunRx working with covered entities from single-site clinics to large health systems. She asks a question that reliably exposes the gap. Can your team run an eRx report from your EMR, and do you run it regularly? About half cannot answer, and that report is what shows where prescriptions actually go after a patient leaves. Rural programs in particular discover their scripts are filled thirty miles away rather than at the pharmacy they contracted with next door. She is also unusually direct for someone who works at a TPA, stating plainly that the program belongs to the covered entity and that vendors are a small piece of the puzzle. Her illustration is a covered entity that changed its EMR without telling anyone, and found six months later that the program savings had simply stopped. 00:00 Cold open: what strong 340B operations actually look like 02:11 Welcome to 340B Pulse 02:25 Why practical 340B operations, and why now 03:16 Introducing Kaitlyn Weckhorst Wood 04:24 From Oklahoma Medicaid to academic health center to the vendor side 05:28 Why operational tips resonate: playing offense instead of defense 06:46 The daily habits behind well-managed programs 07:49 Asking vendors questions: "you have not because you've asked not" 09:15 The biggest gap Kaitlyn sees in covered entities 09:21 The eRx report, and why it's her "number one lethal weapon" 10:04 Where prescriptions actually go, and rural leakage 11:06 Why there is no 340B operational playbook 12:06 What better operations mean for patients 13:16 The patient who was 39 weeks pregnant and paid nothing 14:24 Visibility gaps and early warning signs 14:57 Capture reports, and why fallout reports matter more 16:21 Checking wholesaler invoices against the 340B price 17:30 Building a review cadence that holds 18:58 What TPA software does well, and where oversight is still needed 20:34 Why the program belongs to the covered entity, not the TPA 21:16 Evaluating a TPA: what to look for 22:56 The partnership question most evaluations skip 24:00 Vendor accountability without friction 26:05 The EMR change that erased six months of savings 27:16 Small covered entities wearing multiple hats 29:05 Documentation as a habit, not an audit response 31:54 Kaitlyn's view on the rebate model 33:15 Where AI helps in 340B, and where it doesn't 34:42 Summer Coalition takeaways: state laws, IRA, MFP 36:17 Rapid fire round 38:03 The one practical takeaway 39:16 Closing What is an eRx report in 340B? An eRx report is pulled from a covered entity's EMR and shows where prescriptions are sent after a patient leaves. It matters because it reveals whether the contract pharmacy network matches actual patient behaviour, and covered entities frequently find their prescriptions filled far from the pharmacies they contracted with. Why does the fallout report matter more than the capture report? Because the capture report only confirms what already worked. The fallout report lists what should have captured and did not, which is where recoverable savings sit and where configuration problems become visible. What is the earliest warning sign a 340B program is losing control? Decreasing program savings. If the benefit coming in starts falling, something upstream has broken, and it is worth investigating before the cause compounds across months. #340BOperations#PharmacyLeadership#HealthcareOperations#340BSavings#NorthArcHeal

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  340B Pulse

  1. The Mistake That Breaks 340B Compliance: Duplicate Discount Prevention | Vinson Tran

  Aug 3, 202645 min

  Duplicate discount prevention is the process of ensuring a covered entity never claims both a 340B discount and a Medicaid rebate on the same drug unit. Vinson Tran, founder of Pharmacy Operation Solutions, explains why it's straightforward for retail pharmacy and genuinely hard for hospital mixed-use operations, and why he built his career around one rule: don't trust the system, trust the workflow you build to catch it when something's wrong. In this episode, Vinson who holds a core TPA role at a hospital and founded Pharmacy Operation Solutions after watching an early 340B program get misused and shut down walks host Muhammad Atif through what actually prevents duplicate discounts in practice, why hospital mixed-use operations are a fundamentally harder problem than retail pharmacy, and how he manually isolates duplicate claims when hospital systems don't agree with each other. He shares a concrete reimbursement example a $1,300 wholesale drug paid back at roughly $11 that makes the case for watching program revenue as closely as compliance, what to actually expect (and not expect) from TPA and split-billing software, and his honest, 50/50 take on HRSA's reproposed rebate model and the cash-flow risk it could create for small, thin-staffed covered entities. What You'll Learn in This Episode Why duplicate discount prevention requires at minimum two data sets, always The one file every hospital 340B program depends on, and why it's the most common point of failure How to build a temporary fix when hospital transaction IDs don't match across systems Why a $1,300 drug reimbursed at $11 isn't a compliance failure it's a revenue-visibility problem What to ask a TPA or software vendor before accepting any new feature Vinson's honest take on where AI helps in 340B today, and where it still falls short What actually happens during an HRSA audit, and how to prepare before one is ever announced 00:00 Introduction to 340B Pulse 00:33 Guest introduction: Vinson Tran 02:48 Vinson's journey into 340B 04:37 His experience with two HRSA audits 06:35 What duplicate discount prevention actually requires 11:09 Medicaid carve-in vs. carve-out decisions 13:10 The most common mistake covered entities make 14:24 Mixed-use hospital operations, explained 17:20 What hospitals should monitor regularly 19:25 Data, reporting, and review rooms 21:16 The KPIs that show whether a program is healthy 23:56 TPA software and vendor accountability 29:42 Questions to ask your TPA regularly 31:06 Where AI fits (and doesn't) in 340B 34:54 The reproposed HRSA rebate model 38:17 How to prepare for an HRSA audit 40:56 Rapid-fire round43:28 Final takeaway and closing What is duplicate discount prevention in 340B? Duplicate discount prevention is the process that ensures a covered entity never claims both a 340B discount and a Medicaid rebate on the same drug unit, verified by matching pharmacy claims data against 340B software data and confirming the correct Medicaid modifier. Why is duplicate discount prevention harder for hospitals than retail pharmacies? Because hospital claims pass through the EMR, IT, billing, inpatient, and outpatient systems before reaching the 340B splitter, while retail pharmacy owns the entire process end to end, making the hospital's charge file the critical point to monitor. What should covered entities ask their TPA or software vendor regularly? One core question before accepting any new feature or enhancement: how does this actually impact my covered entity? #HealthSystemPharmacy#HealthcareLeadership#HealthTech#340BPulse#NorthArcHealth

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  340B Pulse

  Checking the Checker: The Hidden Cost of 340B Rebates | Celeste Fowler

  Jul 27, 202647 min

  340B rebate readiness is the operational work of identifying, validating, submitting, and reconciling 340B claims under a rebate-based model, then confirming that the rebate a covered entity is owed is the rebate it actually receives. Celeste Fowler, Executive Director of Pharmacy 340B at Piedmont Healthcare, joins 340B Pulse to explain why that work is far bigger than the "five-hour myth" suggests. Everyone's talking about 340B rebate model litigation and manufacturer policy. Almost nobody's talking about who actually checks whether the rebate check that comes back is correct. On this episode of 340B Pulse, host Muhammad Atif sits down with Celeste Fowler, Executive Director of Pharmacy 340B at Piedmont Healthcare, to get past the policy headlines and into what a rebate-based 340B model actually demands operationally. Celeste has spent her career building this kind of program from the ground up, starting as what she calls a "one-woman show" at a single community hospital and now leading a health-system program across multiple facilities. She explains why the widely repeated "five-hour myth" undersells the real work, why more submitted data doesn't automatically create more transparency, why standardization has to be the fixed recipe underneath every program's unique implementation, where AI genuinely earns its place versus where clinical judgment can't be replaced, and what it takes to "check the checker" on a manufacturer's rebate payment before a covered entity can trust it. Why the "five-hour myth" may actually describe five hours a day, not five hours a month, if rebate readiness is done correctly Why data integrity and security, not policy uncertainty, is the operational risk healthcare leaders are missing What it actually takes to reconcile pharmacy, revenue-cycle, and EMR data that was never built to talk to each other Why standardization is the fixed compliance foundation underneath every covered entity's unique 340B program Where AI and automation genuinely help in 340B operations, and where human clinical judgment has to stay in the loop What "checking the checker" means for a covered entity's cash flow and financial sustainability How to build cross-departmental governance and vendor accountability across a health system 00:00 — Cold open: the real cost of rebate readiness 00:30 — Welcome to 340B Pulse 03:35 — Celeste Fowler's path into 340B leadership 07:34 — What healthcare leaders are missing operationally 12:34 — The five-hour myth, explained 14:16 — Mapping the real data gaps behind every claim 18:02 — Why standardization is the core of a defensible program 20:02 — Where AI and automation actually help 25:45 — Data security, AI vendors, and patient trust 28:35 — Financial sustainability and checking the checker 35:18 — Governance and vendor accountability at health-system scale 37:47 — Rapid fire: what rebate readiness actually takes 41:47 — 340B training, coalitions, and building a support network 45:11 — Celeste's final perspective for healthcare leaders 46:03 — Connect with Celeste Fowler What is the five-hour myth in 340B rebate readiness? It's the idea that preparing for a rebate-based 340B model only takes a few extra hours a month. Celeste says that number really only covers uploading a file, and that doing the work behind it properly could take closer to five hours a day. What does "checking the checker" mean? It means a covered entity has to independently confirm that the rebate a manufacturer pays back actually matches what was owed, instead of just trusting the number that comes in. Why does standardization matter so much for 340B programs? Because it gives every site the same compliance baseline, so when something looks off, a team can actually trace it back to the cause instead of guessing whether it's a real problem or just normal variation. #HealthcareCompliance#PharmacyOperations#AIinHealthcare#HealthcareInnovation#HealthcareDataSecurity

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  340B Pulse

  The Cash Cow Mistake: What 340B Leaders Get Wrong About Savings | David Dunson

  Jul 20, 202637 min

  340B savings don't become mission impact automatically. Someone has to decide where the money goes, defend that decision to a board, and be ready to prove it to a regulator. This episode shows exactly what that looks like in practice.In this episode, Mohammad Atif sits down with David Dunson, in-house pharmacist and 340B program leader at Tug River Health Association, a six-clinic rural health center with one mobile unit serving McDowell County, West Virginia, the poorest county in the state and among the poorest in the country. David walks through the real allocation calls behind Tug River's 340B program: choosing to fund a dormant dental program over whole-facility backup generators after Hurricane Helene, rebudgeting a full year ahead of the Medicare Part D rebate program's impact on net savings, and running a monthly cross-departmental 340B committee that keeps every department's priorities visible to the board.He also delivers a candid, occasionally blunt take on where the industry gets 340B wrong: the "cash cow" mentality that leaves organizations blindsided when savings drop, why documentation has to be audit-ready at all times rather than assembled after the fact, and an optimistic but grounded view of where AI actually fits into 340B operations today.00:00 - Introduction to 340B Pulse and the Cold-Open Hook Reel 00:39 - What Happens to 340B Savings After They Arrive? 01:31 - Meet the Host: Why 340B Pulse Exists 03:04 - Introducing David Dunson and Tug River Health Association 03:34 - From Board Member to In-House Pharmacy Owner: David's 25-Year Path 05:19 - Inside Tug River: Six Clinics, One Mobile Unit, McDowell County 06:34 - Defining Mission Impact: Every Patient Gets Care 08:30 - Getting Departments Aligned Around a Shared Mission 09:56 - Reviving a Dormant Dental Program With 340B Savings 11:53 - Competing Priorities: Generators vs. Dental Care After Hurricane Helene 13:54 - Leading Under Uncertainty: The Medicare Part D Rebate Program 16:31 - The $1,100-to-$2,000 Reality of Serving Tug River's Patients 17:23 - Why 340B Should Never Be Treated Like a Cash Cow 18:05 - Governance: Presenting Best-Case and Worst-Case Scenarios to the Board 18:53 - Documentation, HRSA's Patient Definition, and Audit Readiness 23:04 - The Real Cost of Managing a 340B Program 24:43 - Manufacturer Reporting and Working With a TPA 28:15 - Where AI Fits Into 340B Operations 29:58 - Patient Privacy Concerns and Building Trust in AI 31:40 - Preparing the Board for the 340B Coalition Conference 32:53 - Rapid Fire Round With David Dunson 34:32 - Final Perspective: Mission Impact vs. Growth for Growth's Sake 36:03 - How to Connect With David Dunson 36:44 - Closing Thoughts What is 340B mission impact? 340B mission impact is the result of a covered entity's leadership making intentional, documented, and defensible decisions about how 340B savings are allocated, so that the savings translate into measurable patient outcomes rather than simply being absorbed into general operations. What is the biggest mistake covered entities make when planning 340B allocations? The biggest mistake is treating 340B like a permanent cash cow, budgeting as if net savings will remain stable indefinitely, which leaves an organization unprepared and financially exposed the moment a policy change or reduction in savings actually happens. What does strong 340B governance look like, according to David Dunson? According to David Dunson, strong 340B governance means running a standing cross-departmental committee that meets monthly, and presenting a board with multiple scenarios, what leadership expects, what it hopes happens, and what might happen instead, rather than a single optimistic projection.#340BMissionImpact #340BPulse #NorthArcHealth #340BProgram #RuralHealthcare #HealthcareCompliance #CommunityHealthCenters #PharmacyOperations #CoveredEntity #AIinHealthcare

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on 340B Pulse. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.