249A.20A  Preferred drug list program.
  1.  The department shall establish and implement a preferred drug list program under the medical assistance program. The department shall submit a medical assistance state plan amendment to the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services of the United States department of health and human services, no later than May 1, 2003, to implement the program.
  2.  a.  A medical assistance pharmaceutical and therapeutics committee shall be established within the department by July 1, 2003, for the purpose of developing and providing ongoing review of the preferred drug list.
  b.  (1)  The members of the committee shall be appointed by the governor and shall include health care professionals who possess recognized knowledge and expertise in one or more of the following:
  (a)  The clinically appropriate prescribing of covered outpatient drugs.
  (b)  The clinically appropriate dispensing and monitoring of covered outpatient drugs.
  (c)  Drug use review, evaluation, and intervention.
  (d)  Medical quality assurance.
  (2)  The membership of the committee shall be comprised of at least one third but not more than fifty-one percent licensed and actively practicing physicians and at least one third licensed and actively practicing pharmacists.
  c.  The members shall be appointed to terms of two years. Members may be appointed to more than one term. The department shall provide staff support to the committee. Committee members shall select a chairperson and vice chairperson annually from the committee membership.
  3.  The pharmaceutical and therapeutics committee shall recommend a preferred drug list to the department. The committee shall develop the preferred drug list by considering each drug’s clinically meaningful therapeutic advantages in terms of safety, effectiveness, and clinical outcome. The committee shall use evidence-based research methods in selecting the drugs to be included on the preferred drug list. The committee shall periodically review all drug classes included on the preferred drug list and may amend the list to ensure that the list provides for medically appropriate drug therapies for medical assistance recipients and achieves cost savings to the medical assistance program. The department may procure a sole source contract with an outside entity or contractor to provide professional administrative support to the pharmaceutical and therapeutics committee in researching and recommending drugs to be placed on the preferred drug list.
  4.  With the exception of drugs prescribed for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, transplantation, or cancer with the exception of drugs and drug compounds that do not have a significant variation in a therapeutic profile or side effect profile within a therapeutic class, prescribing and dispensing of prescription drugs not included on the preferred drug list shall be subject to prior authorization.
  5.  The department may negotiate supplemental rebates from manufacturers that are in addition to those required by Tit. XIX of the federal Social Security Act. The committee shall consider a product for inclusion on the preferred drug list if the manufacturer provides a supplemental rebate. The department may procure a sole source contract with an outside entity or contractor to conduct negotiations for supplemental rebates.
  6.  The department shall adopt rules to provide a procedure under which the department and the pharmaceutical and therapeutics committee may disclose information relating to the prices manufacturers or wholesalers charge for pharmaceuticals. The procedures established shall comply with 42 U.S.C. §1396r-8 and with chapter 550.
  7.  The department shall publish and disseminate the preferred drug list to all medical assistance providers in this state.
  8.  Until such time as the pharmaceutical and therapeutics committee is operational, the department shall adopt and utilize a preferred drug list developed by a midwestern state that has received approval for its medical assistance state plan amendment from the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services of the United States department of health and human services.
  9.  The department may procure a sole source contract with an outside entity or contractor to participate in a pharmaceutical pooling program with midwestern or other states to provide for an enlarged pool of individuals for the purchase of pharmaceutical products and services for medical assistance recipients.
  10.  The department may adopt administrative rules under section 17A.4, subsection 3, and section 17A.5, subsection 2, paragraph “b”, to implement this section.
  11.  Any savings realized under this section may be used to the extent necessary to pay the costs associated with implementation of this section prior to reversion to the medical assistance program. The department shall report the amount of any savings realized and the amount of any costs paid to the legislative fiscal committee on a quarterly basis.
2003 Acts, ch 112, §3, 14; 2003 Acts, ch 179, §161; 2005 Acts, ch 3, §53; 2008 Acts, ch 1031, §108; 2010 Acts, ch 1031, §347; 2010 Acts, ch 1061, §180
Restrictions on prescribing nonpreferred drug list prescription drugs and chemically unique mental health prescription drugs; exemption from nonpreferred drug list status for chemically unique mental health prescription drugs prescribed for a medical assistance program recipient whose drug regimen is established prior to January 1, 2011; 2010 Acts, ch 1031, §348, 349