ICER Sets Sights on Expanding ‘Fair Access’ Formulary Analysis

  • Nov 09, 2023

    In its annual assessment of whether prescription drug formularies overly restrict access to select medications, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) gave insurers high marks. While it acknowledges that coverage policy information needs to be much more transparent, this year’s report concludes that “major payer coverage policies for 18 drugs often met fair access criteria for cost sharing, clinical eligibility, step therapy, and provider restrictions.” 

    However, ICER President-Elect Sarah Emond says the nonprofit research institute is fully aware that its analysis can only do so much to examine all the myriad, complicated facets of what truly defines “fair access.” Therefore, she adds, ICER is actively working on how to make future reports more comprehensive.  

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  • Leslie Small

    Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.

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