Drug makers push for more time to pay half-off discount on drugs

Drug makers want 60 days instead of 15 to pay a half-off discount for branded drugs in a Medicare Part D coverage gap, Inside Health Policy reports. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also intends to ask drug makers to pay disputed amounts ahead of a decision about whether the company must pay the discount.

"Sara Froelich, vice president of federal operations for Genzyme, renewed the industry's recommendation to expand the pay period to 60 days, which is consistent with the Medicaid program, during a day-long public meeting in Baltimore Tuesday on the drug rebate program. TriCare has an even longer period of 70 days, Froelich said. She said expanding the time frame will 'lead to fewer mistakes' and ultimately save money. ... Craig Miner, CMS' senior technical adviser for the Medicare Drug Benefit and C&D Data Group, said that the 15-day period is consistent with the time that plans have to pay pharmacies, but invited stakeholders to submit comments" (Coughlin, 6/2).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.