Lawsuit Payout Boosts Access to Generic Drugs
Community clinics statewide will get about $2.7 million in reimbursements for generic diabetes and cholesterol-lowering treatments for a six-month period beginning in May, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
Medicine for People in Need -- or Medpin, part of the Public Health Institute -- is overseeing the program. Funding comes from the settlement of a 2004 class-action lawsuit that states brought against Medco Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefit manager (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 4/19).
As part of the settlement, Medco agreed to pay $29.3 million to settle charges that the company switched patients' medicines and did not pass on the savings. The company admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement agreement, which allowed states to decide whether they wanted to receive the payments in cash, drug cards for low-income and elderly residents, or free medications for clinics.
Twenty states were involved in the lawsuit (California Healthline, 4/27/04).
Medpin has selected 150 clinics to participate in the program. Clinics will receive credit limits for medication purchases based on the number of uninsured or indigent patients they treat.
The program will run from May 1 to Oct. 31 (San Francisco Business Times, 4/19).