New England | Spring | 2010 | Health Plan Analysis
The practice known as "academic detailing," which aims to provide physicians with a more complete, evidence-based, and presumably unbiased education about what specific drugs will do, has spread rapidly in New England. Maine's Medicaid program, in an attempt to implement tighter controls and cut down on non-adherence and waste of prescriptions medications, has implemented a new policy limiting initial prescriptions to 15-day supplies on certain medications. Rhode Island's Medicaid program could see its generics first policy expand to a new subset of beneficiaries as the state re-bids its managed care contracts. Massachusetts, which implemented a near-universal reform initiative in 2006, is at a crossroads as costs are threatening the program's affordability.
