On May 23, 2014, CMS published a final rule revising the Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D prescription drug program regulations to implement various statutory requirements, strengthen beneficiary protections, improve program efficiencies and payment accuracy; and clarify program requirements, generally effective for contract year 2015. CMS estimates that the proposed rule would reduce Medicare spending by $1.615 billion between 2015 and 2024. Among many other things, the final rule:

  • Requires that Part D “negotiated prices” be inclusive of all price concessions from network pharmacies except contingent price concessions that cannot reasonably be determined at the point-of-sale, effective beginning with contract year 2016. CMS also specifies that additional contingent amounts, such as incentive fees, that increase prices and that cannot reasonably be determined at the point-of-sale are always excluded from the negotiated price.
  • Implements an ACA requirement that MA plans and Part D sponsors report and return identified Medicare overpayments.
  • Addresses prescription drug abuse by, among other things, authorizing CMS to revoke a physician’s or eligible professional’s Medicare enrollment if he or she has a pattern of prescribing Part D drugs that is abusive and represents a threat to beneficiary health and safety or otherwise fails to meet Medicare requirements, or if the prescriber’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) certificate of registration or state license is suspended or revoked. The rule also requires prescribers of Part D drugs to enroll in Medicare or have a valid record of opting out of Medicare as a condition of coverage for their prescriptions, effective June 1, 2015.

Note that CMS is not finalizing its proposed changes to the ACA “drug categories or classes of clinical concern” requirement; instead, CMS will maintain the existing six protected classes. CMS also is not finalizing its proposal to require consistently lower negotiated prices at pharmacies offering preferred cost sharing in light of its adoption of a different definition of negotiated price than originally proposed. Moreover, CMS is not finalizing its proposed “any willing pharmacy” contracting provisions, nor the proposed changes to limit the authorized levels of cost sharing, pending further study.