Eighteen members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 16 members of the U.S. Senate signed letters to the new head of the Health Resources and Services Administration, requesting that she withdraw a Bush Administration proposal to limit the definition of a patient under the 340B drug discount program.

The letter to Administrator Mary Wakefield, drafted by Reps. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), warned that implementation of the proposed guidance would prevent safety-net providers from offering care to the indigent populations that the 340B program was created to support.