ICER Report Aims to Nudge Payers Toward Fairer Drug Coverage Policies

January 26

In a new analysis that assesses whether major formularies provide “fair access” to select prescription drugs, payers achieved high scores in most categories. But industry observers as well as the organization behind the report, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), say that conclusion may not be the most important takeaway.

ICER — which is best known for its assessments of prescription drugs’ cost-effectiveness — says in a press release that “one of the most notable results of this effort is the change in coverage policies made by five payers for 11 drugs following receipt of draft results of the assessment.”

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Radar on Drug Benefits

Leslie Small

Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.