CVS, Brooks Pharmacy Say They Might Submit Financial Data To Massachusetts If Kept Confidential

Drug store chains CVS and Brooks Pharmacy on Sept. 5 said they might provide drug cost data to Massachusetts officials during hearings aimed at determining a Medicaid prescription drug reimbursement rate provided the information remains confidential, the Boston Globe reports (Mohl, Boston Globe, 9/6). Lawmakers have called for pharmacies in the state to disclose the information during the first round of hearings on the issue. The request comes after acting Gov. Jane Swift (R) in July approved the state budget, which included a reduction in Medicaid payments to pharmacies from 10% above the wholesale price to 2% below wholesale. The pharmacy payment cuts were expected to save the state about $60 million a year. In response, CVS, Brooks Pharmacy and Walgreen -- the state's three largest drugstore chains -- announced that they would discontinue their participation in the state's Medicaid program unless the state raised the reimbursement rate. Under a temporary agreement reached in August, the state will continue to reimburse pharmacies for Medicaid prescriptions at the current rate through Oct. 2, when it will establish a new rate. One independent Massachusetts pharmacy has provided state administrators with drug cost information requested at an August hearing on the state's Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement rate. Walgreen on Wednesday said it would not make the information available to state officials (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 9/5). During the Sept. 5 state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy hearing on the issue, officials could only "retrac[e] familiar ground" because they had no "real numbers" to analyze, the Globe reports. But CVS senior vice president James Smith said the company would offer the information if confidentiality could be "guaranteed" and if the "proper context for the information was provided," the Globe reports (Boston Globe, 9/6). Smith said, "What we don't want to do is publicly display what we consider very private information" (Biank Fasig, Providence Journal, 9/6). Brooks Pharmacy said it was willing to consider the request (Boston Globe, 9/6).