Providers - drug reimbursement

(1) (a) As to drugs for which payment is made, the state board's rules for payment must include the requirement that the generic equivalent of a brand-name drug be prescribed if the generic equivalent is a therapeutic equivalent to the brand-name drug, except when reimbursement to the state for a brand-name drug makes the brand-name drug less expensive than the cost of the generic equivalent. The state department shall grant an exception to this requirement if the patient has been stabilized on a medication and the treating physician, or a pharmacist with the concurrence of the treating physician, is of the opinion that a transition to the generic equivalent of the brand-name drug would be unacceptably disruptive. The requirements of this subsection (1) do not apply to medications for the treatment of behavioral or mental health disorders, cancer, epilepsy, or human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome. (b) The provisions of this subsection (1) shall apply to fee-for-service and primary care physician program recipients. (2) It is the general assembly's intent that requiring the use of a generic equivalent of a brand-name drug will produce savings within the state's medicaid program. The state department, therefore, is authorized to use savings in the medical services premiums appropriations to fund the administrative review process required by subsection (1) of this section.