Requirements and codes changed for some medical benefit drugs

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network encourage proper utilization of high-cost medications that are covered under the medical benefit. As part of this effort, we maintain comprehensive lists of requirements for our members. 

In October, November and December of 2023, we added requirements for some medical benefit drugs. These requirements went into effect on various dates. In addition, some drugs were assigned new HCPCS codes.

Changes in requirements

For Blue Cross commercial and BCN commercial members, we added prior authorization requirements for the following drugs:

For Medicare Plus Blue℠ and BCN Advantage℠ members, we added prior authorization requirements for the following drugs:

Code changes

The table below shows HCPCS code changes that were effective Oct. 1, 2023 (unless otherwise noted), for the medical benefit drugs we manage.

Drug lists

For additional details, see the following drug lists:

• Commercial members: Blue Cross and BCN utilization management medical drug list
• Medicare Advantage members: Medical Drug and Step Therapy Prior Authorization List for Medicare Plus Blue PPO and BCN Advantage members

These lists are also available on the ereferrals.bcbsm.com website at:

• Blue Cross Medical Benefit Drugs
• BCN Medical Benefit Drugs

Additional information about these requirements

We communicated these changes previously through provider alerts, which contain additional details.
You can view the provider alerts at ereferrals.bcbsm.com and on our Provider Resources site, which is accessible through our provider portal, availity.com.***

Additional information for Blue Cross commercial groups

For Blue Cross commercial groups, authorization requirements apply only to groups that participate in the standard commercial Medical Drug Prior Authorization Program for drugs administered under the medical benefit. To determine whether a group participates in the prior authorization program, see the Specialty Pharmacy Prior Authorization Master Opt-in/out Group list. A link to this list is also available on the Blue Cross Medical Benefit Drugs page of the ereferrals.bcbsm.com website.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program^® members and UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust (non-Medicare) members don't participate in the standard prior authorization program.

Reminder: An authorization approval isn’t a guarantee of payment. Health care providers need to verify eligibility and benefits for members.

**May be assigned a unique code in the future.

***Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan doesn’t own or control this website.

Availity^® is an independent company that contracts with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network to offer provider portal and electronic data interchange services.