On September 28, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued approval letters for Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration applications previously submitted by Oregon and Massachusetts. Section 1115 waivers allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive certain provisions of the Medicaid law to provide states with additional flexibilities to design and improve their Medicaid programs through experimental, pilot, or demonstration projects. These projects must be budget neutral and are approved for a five-year period,… More
Tag Archives: Oregon
Oregon’s New Waiver Request to Exclude Accelerated Approval Drugs from Medicaid 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