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Medicare issues sanction against Aetna for failure to serve Medicare prescription drug patients
WASHINGTON—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a notice to Aetna Insurance Company of its intent to impose an intermediate sanction to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries continue to have access to prescription drugs under Medicare’s requirements.
The intermediate sanction, which will prevent Aetna from marketing to and enrolling new beneficiaries, will be effective April 21. It will remain in effect until Aetna demonstrates to CMS that it has corrected its deficiencies and they are not likely to recur. Medicare’s actions should not impact the approximately one million enrollees in the Aetna plans across the country, the CMS announcement said.
Aetna was served with the intermediate sanction notice because it has continued to improperly administer the Medicare drug benefit in the plan’s national stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP) and its 25 Medicare Advantage prescription drug (MA-PD) contracts.
“Aetna health and drug plan members who are having difficulty in getting their prescriptions filled should contact 1-800-MEDICARE or their local state health insurance assistance program for help,” said Jonathan Blum of CMS.
