AMCP applauds CMS formulary rule change
CMS recently published its 2008 Call Letter, which will serve as a guidance and establish changes for Medicare Part C and D benefits in the next calendar year. The Call Letter includes several changes related to formularies, including one that AMCP has been advocating since the development of the Part D benefit.
CMS recently published its 2008 Call Letter, which will serve as a guidance and establish changes for Medicare Part C and D benefits in the next calendar year. The Call Letter includes several changes related to formularies, including one that AMCP has been advocating since the development of the Part D benefit. The modification relates to the pharmacologic classification system used by CMS to evaluate Part D formularies, which was developed by the U.S. Pharmacopeia. When USP created the therapeutic categories and pharmacologic classes, it also developed a third level review for Formulary Key Drug Types (FKDTs). CMS checks the validity of formularies by verifying that they include at least one drug from each of the USP FKDTs. Beginning with the 2008 formulary review process, CMS will now employ FKDTs as an outlier test rather than as a requirement.
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