PCMA Statement On The Administration's Comments Regarding Financing Health Care Reform

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 15 Jun 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) released the following statement today on the Administration's comments regarding financing health care reform:

"PCMA shares the Administration's passion for reducing costs, including for prescription drugs in Medicare. The Administration and Congress took a major step in this direction with the recent 'American Recovery and Reinvestment Act' (ARRA) which offers dynamic new HIT incentives that will propel physician adoption of e-prescribing to almost full adoption within the next decade.

"For our part, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have reduced Medicare Part D costs by 30 percent below government projections by encouraging more generic utilization, using more affordable delivery vehicles such as home delivery, negotiating competitive discounts with retail pharmacies, and using tools like e-prescribing to cut waste and inform doctors and patients when safer, more affordable options are available.

"As the Administration seeks specific ways to address its cost-cutting goals, there are several policies that can accomplish this without restricting access to medications or shifting costs onto those who already enjoy drug benefits in private sector plan. These include:

- Biogenerics Reform: Support bipartisan legislation sponsored by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), Representatives Nathan Deal (R-GA), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), and others to create a regulatory pathway allowing the FDA to approve competing, generic versions of expensive biotech drugs;

- Eliminate so-called 'protected drug classes' in Medicare. These eliminate price competition among manufacturers of 'me-too' drugs without providing seniors greater access to those drugs. This reform alone would save $4.2 billion over 10 years, according to CMS;

- Increase efficiency and save billions by allowing greater use in Medicare of home delivery for re-fills of long-term, chronic medications; and

- Reduce waste by making formularies in Medicare Part D more resemble those in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), which is used for Members of Congress and other federal officials."

PCMA represents the nation's pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which improve affordability and quality of care through the use of electronic prescribing (e-prescribing), generic alternatives, mail-service pharmacies, and other innovative tools for 200-plus million Americans.

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PCMA