Between Congress, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), there have been a number of policy proposals of late that would change reimbursement for medicines covered by Medicare Part B, some of which may harm patient access to important treatments. As we debate these proposals, it’s important to levelset on how reimbursement works in the program today. Part B uses a unique payment mechanism known as average sales price (ASP) to calculate the price of most of the wide range of medicines it covers. Why is it so unique? ASP takes into account commercial market negotiation to save the government and seniors money.
