Some medical benefit drugs for Medicare Advantage members need step therapy, starting Jan. 1

In the new year, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services guidance, certain Medicare Part B specialty drugs will have additional step therapy authorization requirements. This will apply to Medicare Plus Blue^SM PPO and BCN Advantage^SM members for dates of service on or after Jan. 1, 2019.

Step therapy is treatment for a medical condition that starts with the most preferred drug therapy and progresses to other drug therapies only if necessary. The goal of step therapy is to encourage better clinical decision-making.

What's changing?

For drugs requiring step therapy, authorization request questions will be different from the ones you currently answer. Some examples of drugs that require step therapy are:

• Botox^® for migraines and overactive bladder
• Eylea^®, Lucentis^® and Macugen^® for neovascular age-related macular edema
• Prolia^® for osteoporosis

Use NovoLogix^® to submit authorization requests

We encourage you to send prior authorization requests for Medicare Part B specialty drugs through the NovoLogix web tool via Provider Secured Services. It's the most efficient way to get a determination.

Look for more information on step therapy requirements in upcoming issues of The Record and BCN Provider News.

Posted: October 2018
Lines of business: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network