Front End Changes And, Again, More DIR Columns

Since the beginning of the Medicare Part D program, CMS has introduced many reporting mechanisms for trying to understand drug pricing, price concessions, and the cost of providing services to Part D members.  The tool CMS has turned to most often is the direct and indirect remuneration ("DIR") report.  The stated purpose of DIR reporting is for a plan sponsor to report all price concessions it received throughout the plan year that impacted how much it cost to provide Part D services to its members.  CMS then reconciles its payments to plan sponsors based on their DIR reports.  Over the last eight years, CMS has continuously expanded DIR reporting requirements trying to further understand the costs associated with the Part D program.  The DIR reports required to be filed this year for contract year 2013 included more than twice the number of DIR categories and columns as when the Part D program started in 2006.  The number of new columns and newly discovered or created