The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) cites that transitioning pharmacy services from managed care to FFS will standardize the Medi-Cal pharmacy benefit statewide; improve access to pharmacy services with a pharmacy network that includes approximately 97% of the state’s pharmacies; and strengthen California’s ability to negotiate state supplemental drug rebates with drug manufacturers.
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Under managed-care plans, DHCS, which administers Medi-Cal, pays managed care plans capitated payments, a portion of which cover the costs of prescription drugs. These payments are determined by the negotiated prices between the managed care plans and the pharmacies. Medi-cal beneficiaries can only obtain prescription drugs within their managed care plans’ pharmacy network.
Anh Nguyen, assistant professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, explains under the fee-for-service program, DHCS will directly reimburse pharmacies at their actual cost of acquiring prescription drugs (plus other predetermined fees). Additionally, Medi-cal beneficiaries will no longer be dependent on the pharmacy network of the managed care plan and can obtain prescription drugs to almost all pharmacies in California.
