The July, 2017 Medicare Part D plan formulary (or drug list) data included
114 new drug codes or NDCs representing 70 different medications.
The 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.
This article highlights the change for some of the "top Medicare drugs", including their generic equivalents . The generics included are Atorvastatin [
Lipitor®] , Clopidogrel [Plavix®], Escitalopram [Lexapro®], Esomeprazole Sodium [Nexium®], Pioglitazone [Actos®], Risedronate Sodium [Actonel®], Quetiapine Fumarate [Seroquel®], and Valsartan-HCTZ [Diovan HCT®].
The changes to the number of formularies covering these medications looks as follows:
*The formulary counts include both stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDP) and Medicare Advantage plans (MAPD) in all states and the U.S. territories.
**Ending 2013 CMS formulary dataset dated October, 2013. Ending 2014 CMS formulary dataset dated September, 2014. Ending 2015 CMS formulary dataset dated September, 2015. Ending 2016 CMS formulary dataset dated September, 2016.
Starting 2017 CMS formulary dataset dated October, 2016 (Sanctioned plans not included in plan count).
You can review any Medicare plan formulary using the Q1Medicare.com FormularyBrowser at
FormularyBrowser.com or compare how any medication is covered on all Medicare plans in your service area using our
Q1Rx.com.