Medicare to test new payment model for some outpatient drugs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare proposed a nationwide experiment Tuesday on revamping how the government pays for drugs administered in a doctor's office, including many cancer treatments.

[...] the goal is to address financial incentives in the current payment system that can encourage the use of a more expensive drug, when a cheaper medication is just as effective.

Drugs administered in doctors' offices or hospital outpatient departments cost Medicare about $20 billion in 2015, a fraction of what the program spends overall on prescription medications.