IHA Daily Briefing: May 4

IHA President Pens Letter: 340B Drug Discounts Support Patients - Not Profits
Crain's Chicago Business today published a letter from IHA President and CEO AJ Wilhelmi, titled "340B drug discounts supports patients - not profits," in response to an op-ed featured in Crain's that mischaracterized both the purpose of the 340B Drug Pricing Program and the realities facing Illinois hospitals.

Wilhelmi expressed that the "340B program is not a "profit center"-it is a lifeline for patients and communities and allows hospitals that care for large numbers of Medicaid and uninsured patients to purchase outpatient drugs at a discount and reinvest those savings directly into patient care.

He also pointed out that pharmaceutical manufacturers-many located overseas, earning tens of billions of dollars in annual profits, are actively working to restrict hospital access to 340B discounts. Wilhelmi emphasized that "non-profit hospitals use their revenue to improve patient care and access, unlike drugmakers' profits, which are dedicated to stock buybacks and shareholder returns."

Wilhelmi also highlighted that Illinois hospitals and health systems are powerful economic drivers for their communities, generating a statewide economic impact of $135.5 billion annually and supporting more than 521,000 jobs statewide. "Illinois hospitals deliver more than $8.6 billion annually in community benefits, including charity care, education, and research," Wilhelmi said.

The letter also stressed that Illinois hospitals are not seeking to "expand" 340B. Instead, House Bill 2371 "simply preserves the status quo by preventing pharmaceutical manufacturers from restricting access to federally authorized discounts." Hospitals already operate under strict federal and state oversight and the proposed legislation "enhances accountability by expanding hospital reporting on how 340B savings are used to benefit patients."

HB 2371 costs the state nothing and ensures hospitals can continue using 340B savings to support patients and communities. Wilhelmi stressed that "weakening this program would not help patients-it would reduce access to care and strain an already fragile healthcare system."

To read the full letter, click here. For more information on the economic impact of Illinois hospitals and health systems, check out IHA's new statewide economic impact report, "Communities Win When Local Hospitals Are Strong," that quantifies the significant contributions of Illinois' more than 200 hospitals and nearly 40 health systems to the state's economy.

Illinois' $7.4B Opioid Settlement with Purdue Becomes Legally Effective
Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced last Friday that a $7.4 billion settlement reached with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, has become legally effective, capping nearly a decade of work by attorneys general from across the country who pursued investigations and litigation over Purdue's and the Sackler family's role in fueling the opioid crisis.

Illinois joined a bipartisan coalition of 55 attorneys general, representing all eligible states and U.S. territories, and secured the settlement in June 2025, resolving the litigation and providing funds to communities across the country, as well as individual victims and other groups that filed claims in the bankruptcy proceedings. The settlement also permanently bars the Sackler family from selling opioids in the U.S. and delivers funds for addiction treatment, prevention, and recovery to communities across the country over the next 15 years.

This is the nation's largest settlement with individuals responsible for the opioid crisis. Illinois and the state's local governments will receive approximately $148.8 million in abatement funds from this settlement over the next 15 years. Most of the settlement funds will be distributed in the first three years.

Details and updated reporting on the spending and uses of Illinois' opioid settlement funds can be found on the state's Opioid Settlements Initiative website, which details uses of opioid settlement funds that state and local governments receive.

Illinois Maintains High Childhood Vaccination Rates, Outpacing National Trends
Illinois's newly updated School Vaccination Coverage Dashboard shows that coverage rates for all school-required childhood immunizations are holding steady compared to last year. The dashboard is put together each year by the Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH), using data provided to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) by PreK-12 schools and school districts across Illinois.

The dashboard tracks immunization rates in the current school year for 11 different school-required childhood vaccinations at more than 4,600 Illinois schools. Data from the updated dashboard shows that immunization rates are slightly higher than the previous school year for 10 of those 11 vaccines; the only exception is hepatitis B, which was only 0.03% lower than a year earlier.

IDPH said one of the most encouraging signs from the dashboard data is that almost all statewide childhood immunization rates are above 95% for all students. That 95% threshold is seen as optimal to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and to protect those who cannot be vaccinated for health or other reasons. The only immunization under the 95% threshold is the meningococcal vaccine, which protects against meningitis and its complications. However, even this vaccine rate has shown improvement at 94.39%, up from 93.88% the previous year.

This is a significant improvement from the 2024-25 school year, when three immunizations (meningococcal, pneumococcal and Hib) were below 95%. Measles had one of the highest rates of coverage at 96.78%. As a result, Illinois continues to see low case counts of measles, even as total numbers nationwide have soared to their highest levels since measles was declared "eliminated" in 2000.