Margaret Scott had responsibility over the Ohio Department of Medicaid’s pharmacy program until she departed last fall. Within a month, she was working for a company that is receiving billions of pharmacy dollars from Ohio’s Medicaid managed care programs.
Scott and the contractor, pharmacy giant CVS, aren’t answering questions about what happened. But the state’s ethics watchdog — while not speaking specifically about Scott’s situation — said it’s illegal for a state employee to continue to be involved in decisions that might affect an outside business while negotiating a new job with that business.
Scott’s case might be of particular interest because CVS’s “pharmacy-benefit manager” contracts with Medicaid managed-care organizations are drawing scrutiny from legislative leaders. The Dispatch on Tuesday reported on accusations by independent pharmacists that CVS — which holds four of the five such contracts in Ohio — is charging an excessive price from taxpayers for drugs and reimbursing retail pharmacies with lowballed rates in an attempt to push out competition.
According to her LinkedIn page, Scott was with the Department of Medicaid from 2004 until last October. Then in November, she was a clinical adviser for CVS.
Melissa Ayers, a spokeswoman for the Department of Medicaid, said Friday the agency is still looking into the matter. But she said that Scott did not have authority over the CVS pharmacy-benefit manager contracts because those were between CVS and the managed-care companies that contract with the state.
Filed under: General Problems
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