Medicare Part D Drugs

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CMS has announced final Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D plan policies and rates for 2019. The final 2019 rule, published on April 16, 2018, implements a Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) provision that allows Part D plan sponsors to establish drug management programs. Under this policy, plan sponsors may limit at-risk beneficiaries’ access to coverage of “frequently abused drugs” (opioids and benzodiazepines) to selected prescribers and/or network pharmacies, and they may use of point-of-sale claim edits, subject to various conditions.

Other policies adopted in the final rule include the following:
Continue Reading 2019 Medicare Advantage/Part D Policies Finalized, Including Comprehensive Addition and Recovery Act Drug Management Requirements

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has issued its annual recommendations to Congress on updates to Medicare fee-for-service payment system rates, many of which overlap recommendations made in previous years. For instance, MedPAC continues to call for implementation of a unified prospective payment system (PPS) for post-acute care (PAC) providers, including skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), home health agencies (HHAs), inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), and long-term care hospitals (LTCHs), to be implemented beginning in 2021.  In the latest report, MedPAC recommends that Congress direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to begin blending the relative weights of the setting-specific payment systems and the unified PAC PPS in 2019.  At the same time, MedPAC recommends that Congress modify the updates for the individual PAC systems by:

  • Reducing home health payment rates by 5% in 2019, rebasing payments beginning in 2020, and eliminating the use of the number of HHA therapy visits as a factor in payment determinations.
  • Reducing Medicare IRF PPS rates by 5% for FY 2019.
  • Eliminating the LTCH PPS update for FY 2019.
  • Eliminating SNF PPS market basket increases for fiscal years (FYs) 2019 and 2020, and implementing previous recommendations to reform SNF PPS payments in a way that shifts payments to medically-complex stays. MedPAC notes that it has endorsed SNF PPS reforms since 2008, and it “has grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of statutory and regulatory actions to lower the level of payments and implement a revised payment system.”

MedPAC also includes detailed discussions of Medicare payment for physician and other health professional services. MedPAC recommends increasing physician fee schedule rates in 2019 by the amount specified in current law (0.25%). MedPAC also offers extensive recommendations for revising the framework for updating Medicare physician payments established by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). Most notably, MedPAC recommends eliminating the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and adopting a new voluntary value program under which: (1) clinicians can elect to be measured as part of a voluntary group; and (2) clinicians in voluntary groups can qualify for a value payment based on their group’s performance on a set of population-based measures. Additionally, MedPAC presents the findings of its Congressionally-mandated report on coverage of telehealth services.

With regard to other Medicare fee-for-service payment systems, MedPAC recommends:
Continue Reading MedPAC Calls for Medicare Post-Acute Care and Physician Payment Reforms, Recommends Medicare Payment Updates

CMS is seeking comments on its proposed updates to the methodologies used to pay Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D plan sponsors for 2019.  This year CMS released its 2019 Advance Notice and Draft Call Letter in two parts.  In late 2017, CMS released proposed changes to the Part C risk adjustment model (Part I of the Advance Notice) to comply with new 21st Century Cures Act requirements.  Part II of the Advance Notice and Call Letter, released earlier this month, includes proposed rate updates and various policy provisions.  According to a CMS fact sheet, the update would increase plan payments by 1.84% relative to 2018, without taking into account an adjustment for underlying coding trend, which CMS expects to increase risk scores by 3.1% on average. 
Continue Reading CMS Releases Proposed 2019 Medicare Advantage/Part D Reimbursement Methodologies and Policies

The new Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (the Act), recently signed into law by President Trump, includes extensive Medicare, Medicaid, and other health policy and payment provisions.  Policy changes that will be welcome to health care providers and manufacturers include:  repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB); elimination of the Medicare outpatient therapy caps;…

CMS has issued a proposed rule to update the Medicare Advantage (MA) program and Part D prescription drug benefit rules for contract year 2019.  The proposed rule would, among many other things:

  • Implement a Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) provision that allows Part D plan sponsors to establish drug management programs that limit at-risk

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The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has released recommendations to Congress regarding how Medicare fee-for-service payment system rates should be adjusted in 2018. One of the focus areas for MedPAC is post-acute care (PAC), which includes skilled nursing facility (SNF), home health agency (HHA), inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF), and long-term care hospital (LTCH) services.  According to MedPAC, the “unnecessarily high level of spending and the inequity of payments across different types of patients” necessitate changes to both payment levels and overall system design.  MedPAC therefore reiterates its previous recommendation for a uniform Medicare PAC prospective payment system (PPS) that bases payments on patient characteristics; MedPAC believes that transition to the PAC PPS could begin as early as 2021. In the meantime, MedPAC recommends that Congress:
Continue Reading Post-Acute Care Providers Targeted for Cuts in MedPAC’s Latest Report to Congress

CMS has released its 2018 Advance Notice and Call Letter, which outline proposed updates to Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D plan reimbursement methodologies and policies. CMS notes that it its proposed policies focus on four major outcomes: (1) improvement in quality of care for individuals, (2) promotion of alternative payment models, (3) program…

At the request of Congress and others, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a review of “high-priced drugs” (defined by OIG as exceeding $1,000 per month) and their impact on the Medicare program.  The OIG found that 2015 federal payments for Part D catastrophic coverage, which is triggered when a beneficiary’s out-of-pocket costs exceed …

The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued its FY 2017 Work Plan, which lays out the OIG’s current audit, evaluation, and other legal and investigative priorities. The largest number of new initiatives by far target Medicare Parts A and B, including reviews focusing on the following:
Continue Reading New OIG Investigations to Look at Wide Range of Medicare, Medicaid Services in FY 2017

CMS is hosting a November 14, 2016 “listening session” to obtain stakeholder input on implementation of section 704 of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 (CARA), Under this provision, Medicare Part D sponsors may establish drug management programs for at-risk beneficiaries to limit access to frequently-abused drugs to certain prescribers and pharmacies.…

HHS has announced a series of actions to address the nation’s opioid epidemic, as Congress has cleared the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act for the President’s signature. As part of the HHS activities, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has published a final rule to expand from 100 to 275 the number of patients that qualified practitioners may treat with buprenorphine, a medication to treat opioid use disorder. Furthermore, as noted in a separate post, the proposed 2017 OPPS rule would remove certain pain management questions from consideration for purposes of Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program payment adjustments “to mitigate even the perception that there is financial pressure to overprescribe opioids.” In addition, HHS announced its research priorities regarding opioid misuse and pain treatment, and the Indian Health Service adopted a requirement that prescribers and pharmacists check state Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) databases before prescribing or dispensing opioids for pain.

These actions come as the OIG has highlighted significant Medicare Part D spending on commonly abused opioids, which the OIG estimates exceeded $4 billion in 2015. In fact, almost one in three Medicare Part D beneficiaries received a commonly abused opioid in 2015, according to the OIG. The OIG recommends that CMS take additional actions to prevent opioid abuse within the Medicare program, signaling the potential for additional policies in this area.

In another related development, this month both the House and Senate approved the conference report to accompany S 524, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. Among many other things, the bipartisan legislation would:
Continue Reading Obama Administration, Congress Take Steps to Fight Opioid Epidemic

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published the long-awaited final rule February 12, 2016, clarifying the specific procedures applicable to the statutory requirement under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) for providers and suppliers to report and return overpayments within 60 days. While the final rule eased some of the law’s more unforgiving aspects, its limited scope brought up new questions about the breadth of the law itself.

Despite concerns raised by a number of commenters in response to the proposed rule, CMS limited the scope of the final rule to Medicare Parts A and B only. In other words, the final rule clarifies the obligations of Medicare providers and suppliers to report and return overpayments originating under Medicare Parts A and B. Commenters expressed concern about this limitation and the lack of rationale for distinguishing Medicare Parts A and B from Medicare Parts C and D; they also voiced the need shared by all providers and suppliers for guidance on the overpayment requirements. In response, CMS reasoned that differences in how the Medicare programs are administered necessitated separate rulemakings. Interestingly, the agency did not indicate whether a separate rulemaking would be forthcoming, but instead directed providers and suppliers to their existing statutory obligations under the ACA, and a prior rulemaking applicable to reporting and returning overpayments in the Medicare Parts C and D context, for further guidance. In its response, CMS appears to assume, without stating expressly, that the law and the agency’s prior rulemaking apply to providers and suppliers receiving payments under Parts C and D.

Continue Reading So You’re an Overpaid Medicare Part C/D Provider or Supplier: Can You Keep the Change?

MedPAC has released its June 2016 Report to the Congress on Medicare and the Health Care Delivery System. The report includes recommendations for a number of Medicare policy reforms and analyses of various health care market developments. Several chapters address Medicare drug policy, including a review of external factors that influence the prices Medicare pays for prescription drugs. With regard to Medicare Part B drug policy, MedPAC discusses potential modifications to Medicare Part B drug reimbursement, such as reducing dispensing and supplying fees, along with approaches to improving the quality and reducing the costs of oncology care (since more than half of Medicare Part B drug spending is associated with anticancer and related drugs). Likewise, MedPAC examines the Medicare Part D prescription drug program and offers recommendations for giving plan sponsors greater financial incentives and mechanisms to manage the benefits of high-cost enrollees; exclude manufacturer discounts on brand-name drugs from counting as enrollees’ true out-of-pocket spending; eliminate beneficiary cost sharing above the catastrophic cap; and increase financial incentives for low-income beneficiaries to use lower-cost drugs and biologicals.

MedPAC also discusses development of a unified Medicare payment system for post-acute care, including its unified prospective payment system (PPS) prototype that it believes accurately predicts resource needs for nearly all patient groups. MedPAC raises various implementation considerations, including the need to develop separate payment models for nontherapy ancillary services and the combination of routine and therapy services; adjustments to recognize lower costs in home health agencies compared to institutional settings; the need for outlier policies and labor cost adjustments; future adjustments to reward high-quality, efficient care; conforming regulatory reforms; and an appropriate transition period, among other policy provisions.

In addition, the report addresses:
Continue Reading MedPAC Issues Recommendations on Medicare Drug, Post-Acute Care, and Other Payment Policies

CMS is delaying until February 1, 2017 enforcement of previously-adopted regulations that require physicians and other eligible professionals who prescribe Part D drugs to be enrolled in Medicare (or have a valid opt-out affidavit on file) for their prescriptions to be covered under Medicare Part D. CMS is delaying enforcement so that it “minimizes the…

The Obama Administration’s proposed fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget, released on February 9, 2016, includes a number of legislative proposals that would revise Medicare and Medicaid policies to achieve budget savings and make other program reforms.  The largest pool of Medicare savings would result from various Medicare prescription drug proposals, including the following (all savings over the 10-year period of FYs 2017-2026):  
Continue Reading Medicare and Medicaid Drug Policy Provisions in the Obama Administration’s Proposed FY 2017 Budget