White Bagging: Emerging Trends, Provider Response, and Implications for Reimbursement

Description

White bagging is a practice involving healthcare providers (such as doctors, clinics, and hospitals) and pharmacies, whereby a patient's medication to be used in a procedure is sent directly by the pharmacy to the provider at which the patient is receiving care. Many payers, primarily large national insurers, have recently begun to mandate white bagging by requiring that in-office administered medications be purchased and dispensed through the payers’ pharmacies, as opposed to being sourced and provided by the administering provider. Healthcare providers are then expected to receive and administer this medication filled and dispensed by the payer-owned pharmacy.

While payers have suggested that white bagging helps control costs based on the site of care, it also bypasses many of the healthcare system’s checks and balances, such as pharmacy formularies, checking of drug interactions, and safety protocols. This practice also puts at risk medication and supply chain integrity, as well as patient safety.

As insurers are implementing mandatory white bagging policies for certain medications, healthcare systems and providers must prepare to address the issues created by these policies. Further, they need to be ready to address these concerns in both regulatory compliance and litigation.

Listen as our authoritative panel of healthcare attorneys examines white bagging and how different healthcare providers respond to white bagging policies. The panel will also address white bagging in the litigation context--both how the courts address the issues and litigation strategies. The panel will discuss how white bagging impacts contract negotiations.