Pharmacy Stakeholders to CMMI: Scrap Trump’s Last-Ditch Effort to Weaken Protected Classes

Nine leading pharmacy stakeholder groups penned a letter to the Acting Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Amy Bassano urging the Biden administration to rescind the Trump administration’s last-minute attempt to weaken Medicare’s six protected classes policy.

​The letter calls on the administration to abandon the previous administration’s formulary flexibilities for plans that participate in the Part D Payment Modernization Model, noting that two consecutive administrations have rejected proposals to weaken coverage requirements for drugs in the six protected classes. The organizations also highlight the devastating consequences that these changes would have for minority and underserved populations.
 
“…Allowing PBMs and Part D plans under the PDM model to opt-out of covering prescribed medications in the six protected drug classes is in direct conflict with President Biden’s Executive Order ‘On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,’ to ‘pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all,’” the letter states. “Accordingly, our nation’s pharmacists strongly urge you to remove these provisions in the PDM Model that would effectively strip some of our most vulnerable patients with chronic and mental health conditions from their prescribed medications.”
 
Signatories include: The American Pharmacists Association (APhA), The American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP), The College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists (CPNP), The Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA), The National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA), The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), and The National Pharmaceutical Association (NPhA).
 
The letter in its entirety can be read here. 

---