Dr Jeff Patton Discusses CMS' Proposal to Ease Protections on 6 Drug Classes in Part D

Jeff Patton, MD, chief executive officer of Tennessee Oncology, offers his reaction to CMS' proposal to ease restrictions on how Part D managed the 6 protected classes of drugs.

Transcript

How will CMS’ proposal to ease restrictions on how Part D manages the 6 protected classes of drugs impact community oncologists and their patients?

Step edits in general are becoming very onerous. We have to hire staff, we have to have extra inventory, and we follow clinical guidelines, so we’re doing evidence-based medicine. So, they have to jump through these extra hoops and have other people tell us how care should be delivered is really onerous. We are not a fan of step edits in general, and not having excluded classes in Part D that were previously were, we’re not fans.