How is the Empire Plan Prescription Drug Program changing?
Effective 1/1/09, the UHC P&T Committee will be permitted flexibility in the administration of the Empire Plan Preferred Drug List. The flexibility will result in the renaming of the Preferred Drug List to the Empire Plan Flexible Formulary and is described below: When clinically appropriate and financially advantageous to the Plan, UHC may place a brand-name drug on Level 1; Certain therapeutic categories of prescription drugs with two or more clinically sound and therapeutically equivalent Level 1 options may not have a brand name drug in Level 2; and Access to one or more drugs in select therapeutic categories may be excluded (not covered) if the drug has no clinical advantage over other generic and brand-name drugs in the same therapeutic category (i.e., drugs that are therapeutically equivalent).
