If our readers have been paying attention to the news, one thing is apparent: drug pricing is trending. As we’ve written on here before, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has proposed significant revisions to the discount safe harbor regulations that protect existing rebate arrangements under Medicare Part D and Medicaid Managed Care. … More
On January 31, 2019 the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIIG) issued a proposed rule that will be published in the Federal Register on February 6. The proposed rule has the potential to fundamentally re-structure the prescription drug marketplace in the United States by dramatically altering the economics of pharmaceutical pricing. Although much of the attention surrounding the rule has been focused on its effect on the Medicare Part D prescription drug program,… More
It was just earlier this week that we were writing about a flurry of solicitations released by the the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) seeking bids from manufacturers of select, generally high-priced outpatient drugs for supplemental rebates in MassHealth’s fee-for-service and managed care programs. At that time, we noted that this exercise was likely foreshadowing the release of Governor Baker’s budget proposal.… More
In an interesting (intriguing even?) turn of events, in late December 2018 the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) announced through its public bidding site that it was seeking bids from manufacturers of select, generally high-priced outpatient drugs for supplemental rebates in MassHealth’s fee-for-service and managed care programs. While the state has before used the public bidding process successfully to negotiate supplemental rebates for the state’s Medicaid program (for example,… More