Michigan physicians strongly support a recent proposal by the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) to improve efficiencies in the delivery of care and simplify the process for Medicaid patients to get the prescription drugs they need.

Today, each Medicaid Health Plan in the State has their own formulary for covering drugs, and those formularies change regularly. The result for patients is inconsistent coverage, confusion and difficulty when drugs prescribed by their physicians covered some months are removed from the list in other months.

Under the new plan by MDCH -- a part of the 2015-2016 state budget proposal -- each of the state's Medicaid patients would be covered under the same prescription drug formulary, which determines which prescription drugs are covered by a patient's health plan. The move would ensure patients get the drugs they need quicker, easier, and with fewer interruptions. It would also decrease the number of costly return visits for patients, increase efficiencies for health care providers, and save taxpayers an estimated $49 million each year by enabling the state to take advantage of bulk purchases and discounts.

Please write your lawmakers today and encourage them to put patients first and improve efficiencies to help them better get and keep the prescriptions they need.