AoA posts fact sheet on federal reimbursement of states for Part D costs

AoA has posted CMS’s “FACT SHEET State Reimbursement for Medicare Part D Transition January 24, 2006” which begins:

CMS’s state reimbursement plan enables States to be fully reimbursed for their efforts to help ensure that their beneficiaries eligible for Medicare and Medicaid have access to their covered Medicare drugs as they move to their new Medicare Part D drug coverage. The plan also supports limiting the need for State reimbursement by supporting the use of Medicare payment systems whenever possible, and promotes the effective transition of dually eligible Medicare beneficiaries into their new Medicare coverage. Background The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has taken numerous actions to ensure that full benefit dual eligibles, those eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, continue to receive needed medications as they make the transition from Medicaid coverage of their drugs to coverage under the new Medicare Part D drug benefit. CMS is committed to working with States to make the transition as seamless as possible for all dually eligible beneficiaries. To ensure that the Medicare and Medicaid programs can respond expeditiously to the needs of the dual eligible beneficiaries, this state reimbursement plan will allow States that have assisted their dual eligible populations in obtaining and accessing Medicare Part D drug coverage to be reimbursed for their efforts. In particular, the demonstration plan will permit Medicare payment to be made to States for amounts they have paid for a dual eligible’s Part D covered drugs, to the extent that those costs are not otherwise recoverable under Part D. In addition to providing Medicare funds to reimburse amounts paid by States for Part D covered drugs, the demonstration would also provide payments for administrative costs incurred in the coordination of the drug benefit by State Medicaid programs. CMS will establish a staff team to provide expedited review of applications of States applying for this demonstration.

Read the full document at http://www.aoa.gov/Medicare/news/media/124PartDTransitionDemoFactSheet.pdf