Rachel Cohrs November 13, 2019
At the
president's urging, HHS is working on a more aggressive approach to tying
payment for physician-administered drugs in Medicare to foreign drug prices,
HHS Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday.
The
administration's International Pricing Index
demonstration in its current form would tie payments for Medicare
Part B drugs to an average of drug prices in other developed countries.
President Donald Trump "did not find that satisfactory" and wanted
the model changed so that the United States would get the lowest price of any
country in the pool, Azar said.
"His view,
which he has articulated publicly, is that America ought to be getting the best
deal among developed countries. That is the terminology of most favored nation
status, and that is the type of proposal we are working on," Azar said at
an event hosted by Axios.
However, Azar did
not indicate whether Trump intends to move forward with the demonstration
through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and said he
"cannot pre-judge the president's decisionmaking." A proposed rule
advancing the policy has been
under review by the Office of Management and Budget since June.
Investors are
concerned that the administration may be considering expanding the
demonstration to include drugs dispensed at the pharmacy counter, but Azar made
clear the International Pricing Index applies to physician-administered drugs.
"The
president and I are working of course on an importation regime, as well as on
foreign reference pricing to bring more competitive market pricing into one of
our programs in particular, Medicare Part B. Those are the
physician-administered drugs," Azar said.
An HHS analysis
found that Medicare pays an average of about 180% more for the highest-cost
Part B drugs than other wealthy countries.
The CMS on Friday attributed
a nearly 7% increase in monthly Medicare Part B premiums in 2020 to increased
spending on prescription drugs. Part B covers doctors' appointments and
outpatient hospital care, among other services.
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