Month: January 2019

HHS suggests transforming safe harbors for Part D drug rebates

HHS suggests transforming safe harbors for Part D drug rebates

By Robert King  | January 31, 2019 HHS issued a long-awaited proposed rule on Thursday that excludes the rebates drugmakers pay to pharmacy benefit managers on Medicare Part D plans from protections from anti-kickback laws.  The proposed rule also applies to safe harbor protections for Medicare managed-care organizations.  The agency instead will propose new safe harbor […]

Nevada AG gets OK to hire law firm to sue opioid makers

Nevada AG gets OK to hire law firm to sue opioid makers

By Colton Lochhead / Las Vegas Review-Journal January 30, 2019 – 7:32 pm CARSON CITY — The Nevada Attorney General’s office got the OK Wednesday to hire a law firm to sue opioid manufacturers. The Interim Finance Committee approved the request for the Attorney General’s office enter hire outside counsel on a contingency fee, meaning the […]

Part D plans would take on more financial risk under new CMMI model

Part D plans would take on more financial risk under new CMMI model

By Susannah Luthi  | January 18, 2019 The CMS Innovation Center on Friday announced a new model to try to shrink skyrocketing Medicare Part D drug spending, and expanded its so-called value-based insurance design model for Medicare Advantage plans across all 50 states. The strategy for Part D targets the high spend in the catastrophic phase […]

Supreme Court gears up to review Medicare DSH formula

Supreme Court gears up to review Medicare DSH formula

By Susannah Luthi  | January 14, 2019 The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear arguments in an appeal over whether HHS can recalculate its Medicare disproportionate-share hospital payments without going through the full rulemaking process to get public input on the change. HHS petitioned the high court to take the case last spring, estimating that the government would have to pay […]