CMS Innovation Center Announces Medicare Part A, Part B Drug Models

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center announced two new mandatory programs to mitigate the increasing cost of drugs.

The Guarding U.S. Medicare Against Rising Drug Costs or GUARD Model is designed to test drugs using international drug pricing information to identify a benchmark that reflects prices paid in a set of economically comparable countries. The GUARD Model would begin Jan. 1, 2027.

The Global Benchmark for Efficient Drug Pricing or GLOBE Model is designed to test whether a payment model that uses an alternative method for calculating Part B inflation rebate amounts for certain payable Medicare Part B drugs and biologicals would reduce costs for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. The GLOBE Model would begin Oct. 1, 2026.

Comments on both rules will be due 60 days following publication within the Federal Register. The Missouri Hospital Association published issue briefs for both models.