In late December, CLL Society brought together a coalition of rare cancer groups to respond to a Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) request for input. Together we expressed concern that CMS is continuing to implement the Inflation Reduction (IRA) provisions related to direct government price negotiations in a way that will hamper patients getting treatments that physicians prescribe. Each instance is fairly technical, from how CMS calculates at what point a manufacturer recoups its investment in drug development to when the government “re-negotiates” a further price reduction. The combination of IRA’s Part D redesign and impending implementation of negotiated prices has led to more aggressive payer efforts to delay or deny access to the treatments prescribed by our community’s physicians.
