CMS Reveals Astonishing 91,500%Increase in DIR Fees

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You have to go all the way to page 242 of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) fiscal year 2022 budget to find information about direct and indirect renumeration fees (DIR fees), but once there, the information is truly shocking. The document reads, “The data show that pharmacy price concessions, net of all pharmacy incentive payments, grew more than 91,500percent between 2010 and 2019.”

And there you have it. Pharmacies have long known that DIR fees were increasing at an alarming rate and dramatically affecting their bottom line, but who knew it was by 91,500%?

Not surprisingly, the CMS admission was met with shock by many in the pharmacy profession. “This is absolutely unsustainable,” B. Douglas Hoey, chief executive officer of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), said in a press release. “It’s completely out of control,” he added; the press release notes that “For context, a $4 gallon of milk increased by that much would cost $3,660.”

Hoey also noted th…