Tag Archives: drug coverage

Hello readers! Today’s post focuses on a topic we’ve touched on a few times in the past – Medicaid drug formularies.

Back in December 2021, the state of Oregon released a draft Medicaid waiver proposal that caught the attention of many stakeholders. In the draft proposal, Oregon stated that it was considering asking CMS for approval to a) adopt a commercial-style closed drug formulary and b) exclude from Medicaid coverage certain drugs approved via the accelerated approval pathway “with limited or inadequate evidence of clinical efficacy.” Oregon proposed to “use its own rigorous review process to determine coverage of new drugs and to prioritize patient access to clinically proven,… More

It was a busy day for CMS today. After keeping everyone in suspense for months, CMS finally issued its decision on the Massachusetts state Medicaid program waiver request that proposed to limit access to covered outpatient drugs to Medicaid (in Massachusetts, called “MassHealth”) enrollees.  As many observers predicted, CMS did not approve the state’s request.  Notably, however, the CMS response letter provided a pathway for Massachusetts to achieve a substantially similar result. … More

On July 21, 2017, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (“EOHHS”) announced its intent to submit a request to amend its existing MassHealth Section 1115 Demonstration to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”).   If approved (by both the State legislature, and CMS), it would be the most sweeping change to any state’s Medicaid pharmacy benefit to date. We previously previewed some of the changes EOHHS was considering under the new flexibility granted to states under the Price/Verma administration on this blog.… More