Search is Powered by Google
Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP News

Medicare Overpaid For Prescription Drugs With New Generic Versions Because Of Delay In Incorporating New Prices Into Payment Calculations, HHS OIG Rep

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 29 Aug 2008 - 10:00 PST

email icon email to a friend   printer icon printer friendly   write icon view / write opinions   rate icon rate article
Current Article Ratings:

Patient / Public:5 stars

5 (1 votes)

Health Professional:not yet rated

Article Opinions: 0 posts

Medicare overpaid for irinotecan, a cancer drug sold by Pfizer under the name Campostar, by $6.5 million in March because of a delay in updating its pricing formula, according to a report released on Tuesday by the HHS Office of Inspector General, Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times reports. A generic version of the drug was approved for sale on Feb. 20. However, a two-month delay in integrating the new generic prices into the agency's payment system resulted in the additional expense (Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times, 8/28). According to the report, Medicare was paying $126 per dose of irinotecan in March despite average generic prices of $41 for the drug. When sales of the branded version were factored in, the drug's average price in March was $52.

The report found that Medicare likely is overpaying for other drugs because of the delay in updating its pricing formula, according to the Wall Street Journal's "Health Blog." The report suggests that Medicare devise a way to "address pricing discrepancies arising from newly available generic drugs," including asking for changes in laws governing Medicare drug payments (Goldstein, "Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 8/27).

The report is available online (.pdf).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.




Personalized Homepage Weekly Newsletters Daily News Alerts
Opioid Induced Constipation ADHD Anxiety Asthma Autism Cancer Diabetes Lung Cancer Lupus Medicare / Medicaid Obesity and BMI Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells All 'What Is...' Articles All 'How To...' Articles

Ophthalmology Urology
About Us News Licensing Free Website Feeds Free Tools & Content Tell a Friend Accessibility Help / FAQ Article Submission Links Contact Us

add medical news today to your facebook
medical news gadget

Swine Flu Image

Swine Flu Updates

- Latest Swine Flu News
- What is Swine Flu?
- Map Of H1N1 Outbreaks
- Swine Flu - Top 20 FAQ
- Daily Email News Alerts
Stick with Medical News Today for the latest news updates on swine flu.


These are the most read articles from this news category for the last 6 months:
Top Article Star
Medicaid, COBRA Provisions Under Economic Stimulus Package Expand Health Care Coverage
22 Jan 2009
Under the two-year economic stimulus package released last week by House Democrats, recently laid-off workers could receive health coverage assistance through an $8.6 billion expansion in Medicaid or $30 billion in federal...


Diagnosing Vision Problems in Children
Diagnosing Vision Problems in Children

Children with vision problems are often misidentified as having learning disabilities, especially since the kids themselves may not be aware there's a problem with their sight. But parents should look for warning signs of vision trouble.

more videos are available in our health videos section.