- The U.S. Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized a number of new policies aimed at lowering drug costs for seniors by encouraging more competition among plans and pharmacies. Specifically:
- Certain generic drugs can now be substituted onto plan formularies at any point during the year.
- The requirement that certain Part D plans be "meaningfully different" from each other removed thereby increasing the number of plan options available to Medicare beneficiaries.
- "Willing provider" requirement clarified thereby increasing the number of pharmacy options available to Medicare enrollees.
- Other policies being instituted:
- New authority that permits Part D sponsors to require beneficiaries at risk of opioid addiction/overuse to use only selected prescribers or pharmacies for opioid prescriptions.
- New initiatives aimed at reducing paperwork and regulatory obstacles.
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