Ramping up for drug surveillance

CMS plans to use its clout as the world's largest healthcare financing agency and its imminent emergence as the biggest single payer for prescription drugs to collect post-market safety and efficacy data.

Along with the new Part D prescription drug program, CMS is rolling out a Coordination of Benefits system in January 2006 that will link payers to drug purchasing information at the point of sale. It will create a complete claims history for every beneficiary, including data on primary and secondary claims (e.g., both Medicare and private insurance)...