Crescent Community Health Center in Dubuque is acquiring a pharmacy in its building in a bid to shield patients from high prescription drug prices.

Crescent recently announced it will acquire Infocus Pharmacy, located at 1690 Elm St., effective Jan. 1, after contracting with the pharmacy for several years.

The move is expected to bring many of the medications prescribed by Crescent physicians to their patients back under the auspices of the contested federal 340B drug pricing program, which mandates pharmaceutical companies offer their medication at a discounted rate to “safety net” health care organizations.

“An entity-owned pharmacy was the safest, strongest program we could have to protect access to medication,” said Director of Clinical Pharmacy Services Heather Rickertsen.

Under 340B, drug manufacturers who participate in Medicaid agree to provide prescription drugs to eligible health care organizations at a significantly reduced price, per the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.

These health care providers include federally qualified health centers such as Crescent as well as critical-access hospitals, rural referral centers and other health care centers that provide for many uninsured and low-income patients.

“In Dubuque especially, we have a high patient population that doesn’t have insurance,” said Josh Feldmann, co-owner and pharmacist in charge at Infocus. “We get a lot of referrals through (local hospitals) because patients can’t afford their medication.”

Beginning in 2020, an increasing number of drug manufacturers — including Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca and Sanofi — have restricted the number of contract pharmacies to which they will send medication or ceased shipping the drugs outright, arguing 340B only covers entity-owned pharmacies.

The result is health care providers like Crescent who lack an entity-owned pharmacy have struggled to provide their patients with critical medicines or had to subsidize their patients’ medication out of the health center’s pockets.

Medications affected by the blockade include insulin as well as newer, more advanced drugs that treat diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma inhalers, and psychiatric medication, including antipsychotics and newer drugs that treat anxiety and depression.

Crescent currently pays $10,000 and $12,000 per month to subsidize the cost of these drugs for their patients, Rickertsen said.

“That cost kept rising over time,” Rickertsen said. “It was rising exponentially.”

Under the acquisition, all 15 of Infocus’s current employees will move to Crescent’s payroll, including Feldmann.

“Everyone’s role will pretty much stay the same,” Rickertsen said.

A dollar amount for the purchase of the pharmacy’s inventory, including supplies of current drugs and computer equipment, will not be available until Jan 1, Feldmann said.

Aaron Todd, CEO of Iowa Primary Care Association, said this was the first he has heard of a federally qualified health center acquiring a pharmacy to save costs under 340B. Iowa’s 13 other community health centers already have in-house pharmacies, he said.

He praised Crescent for the idea.

“This is a unique partnership or acquisition by Crescent and a really cool opportunity,” he said.