Medicare Reimbursement Rate Targeted As Culprit For Drug Shortages

Witnesses at a congressional hearing laid part of the blame for the growing number of shortages of sterile injectable drugs on the changes to Medicare Part B reimbursement made in the Medicare Modernization Act in 2003 and said financial incentives are needed to encourage additional manufacturing in the sector.

The focus of the Nov. 30 Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Health Care, the District of Columbia, Census and the National Archives hearing on economic factors as a cause of drug shortages represented a shift in thinking about how to fix the problem