Ohio firing pharmacy middlemen that cost taxpayers millions
Posted on August 22, 2018
The Ohio Department of Medicaid is changing the way it pays for prescription drugs, giving the boot to all pharmacy middlemen because they are using "spread pricing," a practice that has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions.
Medicaid officials directed the state's five managed care plans Tuesday to terminate contracts with pharmacy benefit managers using the secretive pricing method and move to a more transparent pass-through pricing model effective Jan. 1.
"It will provide volumes of transparency," said Patrick Stephan, director of managed care for the Department of Medicaid. “The black box will effectively be eliminated.”