National Average Drug Acquisition Cost
The National Average Drug Acquisition Cost is the approximate average invoice price pharmacies pay for medications in the United States. This applies to chain and independent pharmacies but not mail order and specialty pharmacies. Rebates pharmacies may receive after paying an invoice are not included. The NADAC data is calculated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
History
It was created in 2011, primarily through the collaboration and initiative of two pharmacists, Mike Sharp, former Indiana Medicaid Pharmacy Director and Joseph Fine, former Technical Pharmacy Director at CMS. By 2017, 45 State Medicaid programs utilized the NADAC as their primary pharmacy payment benchmark. Subsequently, several transparent PBMs also began using it. The NADAC is widely regarded as a key, innovate driver of United States prescription drug pricing transparency.The NADAC is publicly available and all of the drug pricing file compendia publishers have adopted it in their standardized drug information and pricing benchmark files. The NADAC initiated the widespread cost-plus pharmacy migration when CMS added the provision of a "professional" dispensing fee for Fee-for-service Medicaid programs.