Maryland Hopes to Join Multistate Rx Drug Buying Plan

Maryland has laid plans to join a multistate prescription drug buying agreement that would let the states combine their Medicaid purchasing power to seek deeper discounts from drugmakers.

The state announced Jan. 10 that it was seeking federal permission to join a drug pooling arrangement established by Louisiana and West Virginia. The plan includes the development of a joint preferred drug list (PDL), which would require doctors to prescribe the least expensive drug in each class or seek authorization to use a higher-priced product.

States increasingly are using PDLs as a tool to negotiate additional price cuts from drugmakers who want their products used under Medicaid, which spends vast sums on prescription drugs. The Maryland Medicaid program, for example, now reimburses pharmacies more than $480 million a year for prescription drugs dispensed to more than 200,000 Medicaid enrollees, according to the state.

Maryland implemented its own PDL in 2003, which saved the state more than $30 million in its first year, according to Maryland officials. "The leverage from this multistate pooling arrangement will give us additional negotiating power, which should result in better prices from drug manufacturers and even greater savings for the state," said Anthony McCann, secretary of Maryland's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.