HHS approves Florida Medicaid formulary
HHS announced on Tuesday that is has approved a new Florida Medicaid plan amendment that will give the state additional powers to negotiate drug discounts and will allow the state to offer disease management services to beneficiaries. However, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) thinks that the HHS decision to approve the Florida plan is illegal and it is likely to sue the federal government, Jan Faiks, PhRMA assistant general counsel told BioCentury.
The new state plan establishes a formulary composed of drugs produced by companies that agree to provide rebates above and beyond those required by federal law. Drugs that are not on the formulary can only be prescribed to Medicaid recipients with prior authorization from a state official who must certify that the state's formulary does not contain any therapeutically equivalent alternatives. ...