Tag Archives: Value Based Purchasing

On October 13th our friends over at STAT  broke the news [sorry, Paywall] about a “warranty” pilot program from Pfizer that offers both patients and health plans (including Medicare Part D plans) the opportunity to receive a refund for any amounts paid to purchase the company’s longstanding oral lung cancer therapy XALKORI when use is discontinued in the first three months for clinical reasons.… More

Before discussing the new Medicaid guidance on social determinants of health, Medicaid and the Law would like to formally introduce its readers to Regina DeSantis, a new Law Clerk in the Washington, DC office who will become a regular contributor to the blog.

The social determinants of health (SDOH) describe the range of environmental, social, and economic factors that can impact health outcomes.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),… More

As my colleague Tom wrote about in a recent post, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finally responded to a growing chorus of stakeholders that government price reporting requirements, particularly Medicaid Best Price (BP), are stifling innovative value-based contracting arrangements (VBAs).  As the proverbial wisdom goes, “nothing changes if nothing changes,” and CMS’ recently finalized proposal to allow manufacturers to report multiple BPs is meant to stimulate innovative changes in contracting for drugs and biologicals.… More

Earlier this year, my colleague Ross Margulies and I told you about a new proposed rule issued by CMS that makes several changes to the Medicaid prescription drug rebate program, or the MDRP.  Recently, CMS finalized the rule and we thought we’d take this opportunity to tell you about it.  On balance, we think that the rule succeeds in CMS’s stated goals of increasing access to innovative health care therapies to Medicaid beneficiaries as well as clarifying some longstanding questions about the operation of the MDRP.… More

My colleague Ross Margulies has already told our readers about a provision of the new proposed Medicaid regulation governing how the program pays for outpatient prescription drugs under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, or MDRP.  Today, we turn our attention to another provision of that proposed rule, and that is CMS’s attempts to permit pharmaceutical manufacturers, states, and commercial payers to enter into value based payment arrangements for covered outpatient drugs. … More

On July 25, 2019 the Senate Finance Committee voted to advance their long-awaited drug pricing package to the Senate floor (we anticipate a Floor vote sometime this Fall). The Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act (PDPRA) of 2019, as the package is called, proposes numerous drug pricing reforms across Federal healthcare programs (including Part B and Part D), but for today’s blog post we will focus on some of the many Medicaid provisions included in the final mark-up.… More

As we noted here last month, Medicaid is a 1960s-era health insurance plan operating in a 21st century world.  As Medicare and commercial payers have started taking steps to move away from payment by volume to paying for value, it’s important to recognize that the same innovation needs to occur in Medicaid.  In fact, one could argue that this innovation is even more critical in Medicaid.

Why? … More

In light of the growing cost (and demand for) specialty pharmaceutical products, and the corresponding stress this growth has had on state Medicaid coffers, CMS is now actively encouraging states Medicaid programs to engage in value based purchasing (VBP) arrangements with manufacturers.  On Thursday July 14, CMS released guidance documents to state Medicaid agencies and manufacturers regarding participation in these VBP arrangements.

Background

As states consider creative ways to finance high cost drug spend,… More