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The rules say that plans must pay for a medical service or item if regular Medicare would pay for it in this case. You can find this rule at 42 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 422.101.

The rules say that Medicare may cover a drug or biological if it is safe and effective and otherwise reasonable and necessary. You can find this rule in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Internet Only Manual, Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 15, Section 50.4.1. 

Medicare rules also allow the plan to use step therapy. This is the process of beginning drug therapy for a medical condition with "preferred" (or more cost-effective) on-formulary drug alternative(s) and progressing to other drug therapies only as necessary. A plan must grant an exception to its step therapy rules if it determines that the requested drug is medically necessary, consistent with the prescriber's statement. The statement must show that the step therapy drugs: have been ineffective in treating the enrollee; or are likely to be ineffective or adversely affect the drug's effectiveness or patient compliance; or are likely to cause an adverse reaction or other harm to the enrollee. 

Medicare Advantage plans should ensure that new step therapy requirements do not disrupt ongoing Part B drug therapies for enrollees. Step therapy may only be applied to new prescriptions or administrations of Part B drugs for enrollees that are not actively receiving the affected medication. You can find this information at 42 CFR Sections 422.2 and 422.136.

The rules say that MA plans may specify brands and manufacturers as preferred and charge lower cost-sharing for the preferred brands or may limit the Durable Medical Equipment (DME) to only those preferred brands and manufacturers, as long as the following conditions are met (42 CFR 422.100(l)):

- The MA plan provides all categories of DME covered under original Medicare Part B; 
- The MA plan ensures that enrollees have access to all medically necessary (including non-preferred) DME products or brands; 
- The MA plan's contracted suppliers provide access to all preferred DME brands; 
- During an enrollee's first year of enrollment in an MA plan, if the enrollee requests, the plan will provide a 90-day transition period (commencing with the initial time of enrollment) during which the plan provides (and repairs, as applicable) non-preferred DME brands furnished in the previous year; 
- Although the MA plan may add brands to its preferred formulary during the year, it may not remove any brands mid-year; 
- The MA plan treats denials of non-preferred DME products or brands as organization determinations; 
- The MA plan discloses DME coverage limitations and appeal rights in the case of a denial of a non-preferred DME product or brand with the Evidence of Coverage and Annual Notice of Change and on its website; and
- The MA plan provides full coverage, without limitation on brand and manufacturer, to DME categories or subcategories annually determined by CMS to require full coverage.

You can find this information in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Managed Care Manual Chapter 4, Section 10.12.2- Specifying Brands or Manufacturers of DME.

If you want to read these Medicare rules, you can go to this website www.medicareappeal.com.

The Plan contract says that the Plan covers items and services in accordance with Medicare rules. The contract says that the Plan has step therapy requirements for certain Medicare Part B covered drugs/biologicals. Enrollees may be required to try a preferred drug before the Plan will approve the requested medication. You can find this information on page 78 of the Plan's 2021 Evidence of Coverage.