Modern Healthcare

By: Virgil Dickson

The CMS has denied Massachusetts’ request to become the first state in the nation to determine which drugs it will cover in its Medicaid program.

…

If states do pursue the demo the CMS described, access to drugs could be harmed as it’s unlikely states will get discounts as deep as the ones offered under the Medicaid drug rebate program, said Edwin Park a research professor at Georgetown’s Center for Children and Families.”The risk then is that the only way states would reduce their drug costs is by imposing an onerous closed formulary that sharply limits access to needed drugs, where drugs are taken off formulary solely for cost reasons,” Park said.

…

Read more here.