US states plan new drug buying pool

At least 12 US states are expected to join a new prescriptiondrug-purchasing pool covering state employees and Medicaid beneficiaries. The Pharmacy Workgroup, which met earlier this month, says it expects to have commitments from enough states by October to be able to begin the process of appointing a pharmacy benefit manager to run the scheme.

The group says it plans to start with a purchasing pool for the employees of five or six states. Including Medicaid recipients would expand the program's scope to other states, but would require both state and federal funding and securing rebates from manufacturers.

One state which is expected to join the Workgroup's initial buying pool is Missouri, while Maryland is still analyzing and gathering data on the project before it decides what to do, reports the Associated Press, which also notes that Georgia, where the Workgroup held this month's meeting, started up a unique buying program on July 1, which uses a single pool to buy drugs for state employees, Medicaid enrollees and children who are eligible for coverage by a special child health program (Marketletter July 9).Georgia has also introduced a three-tier pricing structure under which a lower co-payment is charged for generics and drugs on the preferred list than for branded drugs not on the list, and introduces incentives for chronically-ill state employees to join disease management programs.