Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
HHS Offers Timelines For First Medicare Drug Price Negotiations
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) - which oversees Medicare and the negotiation process - announced the specific timeline for the first year of negotiations on Wednesday. It had previously said it would release the names of the 10 Part D high-spend brand name medicines that would be included in pricing negotiations in the fall of 2023. (Aboulenein, 1/12)
Once the list of 10 drugs is published, Medicare will go through the negotiation process with drug manufacturers in 2024, according to Brooks-LaSure. CMS expects to publish the established maximum fair price for the drugs in September 2024, which will take effect in January 2026. (Lim, 1/11)
The Department of Health and Human Services is gearing up to start releasing details about its new Medicare drug price negotiation process this year, and the public will have more of a chance to weigh in along the way than initially expected, officials said Wednesday. (Cohrs, 1/11)
On other developments relating to access to pricey drugs —
For the third time in less than a year, a group of lawmakers is urging the Biden administration to use a controversial provision of federal law to widen access to a pricey cancer medicine, an issue that has festered ever since cancer patients petitioned the federal government. (Silverman, 1/11)
