A trio of proposed Medicare drug payment models that made a Feb. 14 debut in the U.S. is playing to mixed reviews. Two of the models to be tested by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center seem to “address the real problems underlying prescription drug pricing – patient out-of-pocket expenses and better payment systems that reward the value a medicine brings to the patient and the overall health care system,” said John Murphy, chief policy officer for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. But he called the third model, which is expected to restrict Medicare payment for some Part B drugs that have indications with accelerated approval, “an attack on the accelerated approval pathway,” which Congress mandated to spur investment and innovation in areas of unmet medical need.

In decrying high U.S. drug prices, lawmakers often cite statistics about the number of patients who forgo or ration their prescriptions because of the out-of-pocket cost. Those discussions overlook the role payer utilization management tactics, including prior authorization, may play in patients abandoning their treatment, be it a specific drug or an imaging service.

While the new inflation-based rebate on certain Part B drugs may generate billions of dollars in savings for Medicare, implementing the rebate could be more challenging than the U.S. Congress and the Biden administration expected when the Inflation Reduction Act was enacted last August.

Although the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act charges the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services with negotiating prices of the Part B and D drugs with the highest Medicare spend, the first two rounds of negotiations will focus solely on Part D drugs, which are dispensed through pharmacies.

The CMS had floated a coverage concept for devices routed through the U.S. FDA breakthrough devices program shortly before the Biden administration took office, but the change in administration proved lethal to the program in terms of its initial contours. The latest development in this saga would have the program revert to an expanded use of the existing Medicare coverage with evidence development (CED) program, a far cry from the original concept of same-day coverage upon FDA approval or clearance of the device.

In addition to the Medicare inflation rebate and the other pricing reforms of the Inflation Reduction Act, manufacturers of certain Part B drugs will be subject to a refund provision tucked away in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was signed into U.S. law last year.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is finally making a long-expected, and requested, adjustment to Medicare Part B premiums, which were raised nearly 15% for 2022 in the wake of Biogen Inc.’s initial $56,000 annual price tag for its Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm (aducanumab).

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has wrapped up its rulemaking for the next Medicare inpatient prospective payment system, and several companies managed to score important rate-setting wins for their devices. Microtransponder Inc., of Dallas, won a new technology add-on payment (NTAP) for its Vivistim device for treatment of stroke, as did W.L. Gore & Associates Inc. for its TAG thoracic branch endoprosthesis (TBE), just two among several winner in the Medicare inpatient final rule for fiscal 2023.