The new Medicare
prescription drug benefit is hurting many of the HIV
patients who rely on the program for treatment, as
cumbersome preauthorization requirements and piles of
paperwork for doctors can delay or even prevent access
to needed medications, The New York Times reports.
Numbers of companies are under contract with Medicare
to provide prescription drug access, but some of these
have limited drug formularies or require doctors to get
preauthorization to prescribe certain medications. Each
participating program can have as many as 30
preauthorization forms for certain drugs. Some also
require doctors to submit an HIV patient's viral load
and white blood cell count to the plan before
prescribing anti-HIV medications.
"We have
seen signs that Medicare drug plans are using management
controls to deter access to medically appropriate drugs,
including drugs in their own formularies,"
Steven Levenson, president-elect of the American
Medical Directors Association, told the Times.
(Advocate.com)