Public invited to attend Oct. 8 meeting regarding list of prescription drugs covered under Michigan's Medicaid Health Plans.

Editor & Publisher Jeff Brown. According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the public is invited to attend an Oct. 8 meeting regarding the list of prescription drugs covered under Michigan’s Medicaid Health Plans.  The Michigan Medicaid Health Plan common formulary stakeholder meeting is from 9:30 a.m. to noon in the Lansing Community College West Campus Auditorium, 5708 Cornerstone Drive in Delta Township near Lansing. In 2016, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services developed the list of prescription drugs – known as a common formulary – to streamline drug coverage policies for Medicaid and Healthy Michigan Plan beneficiaries and providers. The prescription drugs are common across all contracted health plans for the department’s current Comprehensive Health Plan contract, according to the MDHHS. “The common formulary is important to the approximately 1.8 million Michigan residents who are Medicaid managed-care beneficiaries,” said Kathy Stiffler, acting deputy director of MDHHS Medical Services Administration. “It reduces any interruptions in a beneficiary’s drug therapy due to a change in health plans and provides administrative efficiencies for Michigan’s Medicaid providers.” Health plans may be less restrictive, but not more restrictive, than the coverage parameters of the common formulary. The purpose of the stakeholder meeting is to provide an in-person forum for the public to comment on the common formulary.  Anyone who plans to attend is asked to notify KrepsD@michigan.gov no later than Sept. 28. Find more information at michigan.gov/MCOpharmacy. Anyone who cannot attend the in-person meeting may submit questions to the Common Formulary mailbox at MDHHSCommonFormulary@michigan.gov, according to MDHHS.