Starting next year, Medicaid will move to a Uniform Drug List (UDL) across all of its managed care plans. The OSMA supports the goal of creating a standardized and uniform process for coverage and prior authorization for medications—regardless of what managed care plan the patient has selected. Establishing a unified preferred drug list for Ohio’s Medicaid population has potential for assisting doctors in delivering high quality medical care by making necessary medications more accessible to patients. As the process moves towards implementation in 2020, the OSMA will be working with physicians from all specialties to closely review the initial formulary to ensure it addresses the variety of challenges faced by treating the more than 2.6 million Ohioans on Medicaid.
In addition to the UDL, the Ohio Department of Medicaid is also making significant changes to its Episodes of Care reporting programing. The Department will be eliminating a number of episodes that have been designed in the last several years, and focusing its payment reform efforts on a more-narrowly defined list impacting a smaller number of specialties.