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Narrowly Defined Drug Patient Assistance Programs Spark OIG Advisory

 
• By Scott Steinke

The HHS Office of Inspector General will give greater scrutiny to patient assistance programs that help enrollees in Medicare Part D plans purchase drugs if they only help patients with narrowly defined diseases or limit the range of drugs they will help cover, OIG says in updated guidance.

The HHS Office of Inspector General has concerns about the trends it is seeing among patient assistance programs that help enrollees in Medicare Part D plans purchase drugs and is planning to give greater scrutiny for potential violations of the federal anti-kickback statute to those types of PAPs, according to updated guidance issued May 21.

OIG has allowed independent charities to operate patient assistance programs for enrollees in Part D plans and to take financial donations from pharmaceutical manufacturers. A November 2005 special...

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