The CMS is again putting the brakes on an initiative meant to more closely regulate prescribing in the Medicare Part D program.
In March 2014, the agency finalized a rule that mandated doctors and other medical professionals enroll in Medicare to prescribe drugs that are paid for by the federal healthcare program.
The enforcement date, most recently set for Feb. 1, 2017, has moved at least four times. In an announcement Monday, the CMS said it is once again delaying the rule's enforcement until Jan. 1, 2019.
“While CMS is committed to the implementation of the prescriber enrollment requirements, CMS also recognizes the need to minimize the impact on the beneficiary population and ensure beneficiaries have access to the care they need,” the agency said in the notice.
If a provider isn't enrolled in Medicare by the time the enforcement deadline kicks in, Part D plans will be required to notify patients under that clinician's care that Part D drugs won't be covered if they continue to see that provider.
The CMS issued the rule in 2014 because it was concerned about instances in which unqualified individuals were prescribing Part D drugs.
In the past, the CMS implied that the multiple delays have been called for, in part, because of concerns that providers may not know about the enrollment requirement.
The agency had been encouraging prescribers of Part D drugs to submit their enrollment applications to their Medicare administrative contractors before Aug. 1, 2016, to ensure they are processed in time for the now-defunct February 2017 enforcement deadline.
The agency last year estimated that, in 2016, as many as 250,000 prescribers not enrolled in Medicare would be writing prescriptions for 5.25 million beneficiaries. The average Part D beneficiary takes nine drugs prescribed by three prescribers annually.
