CMS Proposal to Adopt IPI Payment Model Wrong Move

No question, the rising cost of prescription drugs needs to be addressed, but the proposal by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to adopt the International Pricing Index (IPI) model for Medicare Part B is not the way to get there. The move will hurt medical innovation and
patient access to care.

Rather than encouraging Medicare beneficiaries to work closely with their physicians to select treatments based on evidence and best practices, the IPI model would import foreign-based price controls, regardless of value or innovation. It would interject a new middleman between physicians and patients – vendors that would impose requirements dictating treatment for
patients with cancer, autoimmune disorders and other complex, life-threatening conditions. This would restrict patient access in the short-term, and reduce incentives for medical advancement in the long-term, ultimately posing serious risks to vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries like my father who is battling cancer.

Rather than implementing the IPI model, CMS should focus on cost-saving measures that do not threaten the doctor-physician relationship and medical innovation that is enabling my
dad, and so many like him, a second chance at life.