West Virginia Panel Hears Testimony About Medicaid Preferred Drug List

West Virginia's newly formed Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee on Sept. 25 held a public hearing to solicit input on the state's proposal to implement a Medicaid preferred drug list, the Charleston Gazette reports (AP/Charleston Gazette, 9/26). Under the plan, beneficiaries would have to receive approval from Medicaid administrators before they could fill some prescriptions. They would have access to any drug, but doctors would have an incentive to prescribe drugs on the state's list. For a drug to be included on the formulary, pharmaceutical companies would have to offer the state a discount (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/29). Nancy Atkins, the committee's acting chair, said the program's "[c]linical effectiveness is of the utmost importance" and that "cost is secondary." Richard Stevens, a lobbyist for the state pharmacist association, said pharmacists support the proposal. But John Brown, a lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said, "We view this as rationing medicine to some of the most vulnerable residents in our state" (AP/Charleston Gazette, 9/26). PhRMA has filed a federal lawsuit to stop states from creating preferred drug lists (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/29). Prescription drugs cost West Virginia's Medicaid program $280 million in 2002 -- nearly 20% of its budget -- and are anticipated to cost $347 million in 2003 (AP/Charleston Gazette, 9/26).