In a new viewpoint published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Vanderbilt University Medical Center professors Jordan Everson, Ph.D., Stacie Dusetzina, Ph.D., both in the Department of Health Policy, and Mark Frisse, MD, Accenture professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics, say a new rule published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) should be phased in a way that's careful, instead of one that could cause the opposite effect.
The new rule requires that Medicare Part D plans to integrate at least one real-time benefit tools that deliver information about prescription drugs and their alternatives through an electronic prescribing system or electronic health record at the time they are ordered.
The most notable piece of information, of course, is the negotiated price of those drugs.
But the professors argue that instead what CMS should consider doing is a demonstration to test the benefits of disclosure. Such a demonstration would answer four big questions, one being whether inconsistently available but more precise price information would serve doctors and patients better than average price information.
You can read the full piece in JAMA.