Louisiana is off to a fast start on its new payment model aimed
at getting costly but curative hepatitis C treatment to patients in Medicaid or
incarcerated in state correctional facilities — via a "Netflix"-like,
modified subscription service. More Louisiana residents received such treatment
in the first 75 days of the new pact than in the entire fiscal year 2019, state
officials said Dec. 5, and 2,290 people got treated between the program's July
15 launch and Nov. 26.
It's all part of a five-year agreement worked out by the
Louisiana Dept. of Health with Asegua Therapeutics, a subsidiary of Gilead
Sciences, Inc., for an unrestricted amount of Asegua's direct-acting antiviral
medication, the authorized generic of Epclusa (sofosbuvir/velpatasvir), to treat
patients in the designated populations.
"The payment model allows a payer — in this case, a state
payer — to better manage its costs while maximizing the number of patients who
can receive treatment. This is an underlying goal of managed care pharmacy practice,"
Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy CEO Susan A. Cantrell, R.Ph., said in a
statement to AIS Health.
Louisiana state health officials say they're encouraged by the
new program's early treatment numbers, but this is a first step: the
overarching goal is to eliminate hepatitis C statewide in Louisiana by 2024
among all residents.
To bolster its efforts toward statewide eradication of hepatitis
C, the department launched a public awareness campaign the first week of
December. Then on Dec. 10, agency officials announced a new collaboration with
Walmart Inc., launching a pilot program of free hepatitis screenings in 10
Walmart stores until Feb. 1, 2020.
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