CMS encouraging Part D sponsors to help with pharmacy eRx costs
Executive Summary
CMS is asking Medicare Part D prescription drug plan sponsors to review agreements they have with pharmacy networks to ensure that dispensing fees help address electronic prescription costs. "We believe that it is unlikely that dispensing fees that were negotiated prior to a pharmacy's implementation of e-prescribing factored into these costs," the agency said in a Sept. 19 memo to sponsors. "Therefore, we would expect Part D sponsors to review network dispensing fees to ensure they appropriately reimburse pharmacies for these new costs." The agency also suggested that Part D sponsors could help to spur e-prescribing at the pharmacy level by making an incentive payment to pharmacies that process e-prescriptions and report those amounts as additional dispensing fees