Subcommittee against Part D drug class changes

At a Wednesday hearing of the health subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, members voiced concerns about the elimination of two protected drug classes under CMS's proposed changes to Medicare Part D. The agency has proposed to remove immunosupressants and antidepressants from the list of protected classes for which plans must cover "substantially all" drugs. But at the hearing, all of the committee members urged CMS to reconsider the change because it could harm patients and their ability to get the drugs they need.

However, some Republican and Democrat representatives at the hearing supported other proposed changes, including the ability for CMS to intervene in pharmacy/plan provider negotiations to expand preferred pharmacy networks to a broader number of pharmacies. And on Tuesday, a group of 150 organizations including the National Community Pharmacists Association sent a (see BioCentury, Feb. 17). ...