New Findings Reported from HealthPartners Institute Describe Advances in COVID-19 (Drug-dispensing Limits Within Medicaid During the Covid-19 Pandemic): Coronavirus – COVID-19

2021 DEC 15 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at NewsRx COVID-19 Daily -- Research findings on Coronavirus - COVID-19 are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “The 1-month drug-dispensing limit is a common drug utilization tool used by state Medicaid agencies to control spending. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many states relaxed the 1-month dispensing limit restriction in order to align with social distancing recommendations.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from HealthPartners Institute, “Yet, some states have not relaxed this limit and have differed substantially regarding the policies that have been implemented. Among states that relaxed the 1-month supply limit, determining which chronic disease drugs qualified for this extension can be challenging for patients and clinicians. As more commercial and Medicare insurance beneficiaries are offered 90-day drug supplies, the 30-day drug supply limit with Medicaid has become a health equity issue, since many individuals insured by Medicaid have already experienced a disproportionate impact from and remain at high risk for severe COVID-19 disease.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Thus, we propose policy solutions to ensure that Medicaid beneficiaries have safe and uninterrupted access to chronic disease medications during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Drug-dispensing Limits Within Medicaid During the Covid-19 Pandemic. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy, 2021;27(10):1489-1493. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy can be contacted at: Acad Managed Care Pharmacy, 100 N Pitt St, 400, Alexandria, VA 22314-3134, USA.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jonathan D. Alpern, HealthPartners Institute, Minneapolis, MN 55425, United States. Additional authors for this research include Malini DeSilva and Nathan Chomilo.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.18553/jmcp.2021.27.10.1489. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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