OIG Finds Commercial Drug Copay Coupons Are Being Used by Medicare Part D Beneficiaries and Warns of Anti-Kickback Statute Exposure

On September 19, 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a Special Advisory Bulletin (SAB) in tandem with the results of an OIG report entitled “Manufacturer Safeguards May Not Prevent Copayment Coupon Use for Part D Drugs” (Report on Copay Coupons) reinforcing the government’s position that the provision of cost-sharing assistance or “coupons” by pharmaceutical manufacturers to or for use by federal health care program beneficiaries implicates the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS).

* This article was originally published in the Health Care Counsel blog. To read it in its entirety, click here.