Grassley investigates Medicaid drug claims

Senator Chuck Grassley (D-Iowa) has begun investigating whether the Medicaid program is routinely paying for prescription drugs which haven't gone through the CMS approval process. Presently, to bill for Medicaid reimbursement, a drug maker must register its product with CMS, using an FDA-assigned code, and get an FDA certification that the drugs are kosher. Now, Grassley is attempting to find out whether some companies are billing for unapproved drugs using false codes--and more importantly, whether CMS is tracking these claims to monitor whether drugs are approved or not. Grassley would like to get a report from the FDA and CMS by next week explaining how they monitor the status of drugs billed for through Medicaid. He'd like to see the Department of Justice and the HHS Office of Inspector General go out and re-collect any improper payments.

To learn more about Grassley's issues:
- read this Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report piece

Related Articles:
Maine struggles with Medicaid billing system. Article
HHS grants improve Medicaid data management. Report

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