As you may know, Medicare
Part D prescription drug plans
can update their plan formularies or drug lists
throughout the plan year and in the past two months,
283 new prescription medications have
been added to many drug plans.
The
April 2017 formulary data released by
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) included 380 new national
drug codes (NDCs*) representing 250 drugs.
The
May 2017 CMS formulary data included 43 new drug codes (NDCs)
representing 33 drugs.
So how can I see if my Medicare Part D plan added any new prescription drugs?
Both our
Formulary Browser (you can view all
the drugs covered by a single Medicare prescription drug plan) and our Q1Rx
Drug Finder (you can view all the
Medicare drug plans covering a single drug) have been updated with the
283 drugs found in the April
and May 2017 Medicare Part D formulary data.
Again, details of the Spring 2017 formulary updated are summarized in our
April 2017 and
May 2017 articles. Both articles include example links
to illustrate the variations in coverage between Medicare Part D plans.
You can also browse through a summary of changes to
popular Medicare drugs found in our
Monthly Formulary Change articles.
* What is an NDC or National Drug Code?
The national drug code or
NDC uniquely identifies a particular drug, manufacturer, strength,
and packaging combination. The NDC is often shown on your prescription
bottle as an 11-digit code (see the charts below) or could be formatted
as 00000-0000-00 where the first set of numbers identifies the
manufacturer, the second set of number identifies the product and
strength, and the third set of numbers identifies the packaging.