Spotlight on Market Access

When the FDA approved Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy (semaglutide) for reducing the risk of serious heart problems, it paved the way for Medicare Part D plans to cover the drug. Industry experts also predict that the drug’s expanded indication will pressure more commercial insurers and their plan-sponsor clients to cover the pricey — and increasingly popular — medication.

“The pressure is just going to be too much” for commercial plans to avoid broadening their GLP-1 coverage, says Debra Devereaux, principal and chief pharmacy/clinical officer at Rebellis Group. However, she cautions that there may not be many significant coverage-policy changes this year.

Artificial intelligence (AI), drug shortages and cell and gene therapies are just a few of the areas on which the FDA is focusing during a major reorganization. Those were some of the topics that FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, M.D., discussed with Mike Tuffin, president and CEO of AHIP, at the insurer trade group’s 2024 Medicare, Medicaid, Duals & Commercial Markets Forum, held March 12 through 14 in Baltimore.

When asked his vision for the FDA in 2024 and beyond, Califf responded that 2024 priorities were different because it’s an election year, and the agency’s priorities are “tied to the administration that’s in place.”

Medicare Part D formularies are becoming more restrictive over time, asserts new research published in the March issue of Health Affairs. Studying Medicare administrative data that included Part D claims and plan formulary characteristics, researchers from the University of Southern California and Blaylock Health Economics found that utilization management tactics such as prior authorization, step therapy and formulary exclusions became far more commonplace between 2011 and 2020. In 2011, an average of 31.9% of drugs were restricted in some form, vs. 44.4% in 2020.

Restrictions varied based on drug costs and the availability of generic alternatives to brand-name drugs. Nearly 70% of brand-name compounds with no generic alternatives were restricted in 2020, compared to 30% of drugs with generic availability. Additionally, the lower the cost of the drug, the less likely it was to be restricted. In 2020, only 16.7% of drugs with generic availability that cost less than $100 per prescription faced restrictions, vs. 83.7% of brand-name only drugs that cost more than $1,000.

When it comes to aging in place, seniors in the U.S. have a hodgepodge of programs and services available to them, and health plans can be a connector to and integrator of those services in their respective markets. Speakers at AHIP’s 2024 Medicare, Medicaid, Duals & Commercial Markets Forum, held March 12 to 14 in Baltimore, agreed that health plans can also play a valuable role in driving innovations across the Medicare and Medicaid programs, such as providing emergency and acute care in the home, supporting family caregivers, and advocating for policy solutions.

Before CMS in 2020 introduced the Hospital Without Walls program enabling health systems to provide acute hospital care in the home, integrated insurer-provider Kaiser Permanente (KP) launched the Advanced Care at Home (ACAH) model. One of several KP initiatives that support aging in place, ACAH leverages expert care teams and technology to provide 24/7 physician-led acute care and coordinate patients’ recovery in the familiar setting of the home. Eligible patients are identified in urgent care, emergency and/or inpatient settings but must also meet certain social and clinical criteria, explained Rachna Pandya, regional strategic implementation leader of Medicare operations and strategy, during the session, “Best Practices to Support Aging in Place.”