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Iowa Medicaid Drug Utilization Review Commission

Public Comment Policy

Meetings are open to the public. It is the intention of Iowa Medicaid that those interested in providing comment be allowed to do so in the public forum. To assure public input into the Drug Utilization Review (DUR) process, the agenda is posted on the website (www.iadur.org) prior to the meeting and public comment can be submitted in writing to pba_iadur@optum.com or presented during the meeting.

Individuals attending meetings of the DUR Commission shall have an opportunity to address the Commission. This opportunity will be granted once during the open portion of the meeting. In order to accommodate all interested parties, all speakers are requested to limit their comments to 5 minutes or less. If you represent a drug manufacturer as an employee, as a contractor, as a member of the manufacturer's Speaker Bureau, or by any other means, we expect you to cover your individual product or entire product line in that five-minute time frame. Speakers who represent multiple manufacturers will share their 5 minutes with the other manufacturer representative(s) whose product they are speaking on. Multiple representatives from a single organization will also be required to share the 5 minutes.

Individuals providing verbal testimony during the public comment portion of a meeting must pre-register at least one week prior to the meeting date and submit a completed conflict of interest disclosure. Individuals providing written public comment must submit their written comment and a completed conflict of interest disclosure at least one week prior to the meeting date. Written comments are provided to the DUR Commission members as part of their meeting materials.

Data that is to be referenced during the Public Comment period(s), verbal or written, should be limited to published, peer reviewed literature only. “Data on file” and “articles submitted for review” are not considered published, peer reviewed literature and should not be referenced during public testimony.

All referenced data that is to be presented should be submitted to the DUR professional staff electronically to pba_iadur@optum.com AT LEAST ONE WEEK PRIOR TO THE MEETING DATE for consideration and distribution to the Commission members. The deadline is 4:30 P.M. CT Wednesday, before the scheduled meeting date. Anything submitted to the DUR professional staff after this deadline will be distributed to the Commission members for the next scheduled DUR meeting.

All public comment submissions to this email address become public documents. No response will be provided to the submitted public comment. Comments received after the deadline will be provided to the DUR Commission members at the next scheduled meeting.

Summary:

1. Public Comment Format

  • Written comments - submit written comments to pba_iadur@optum.com at least one week prior to the scheduled meeting date. No response will be provided to the submitted public comment.
  • Verbal Comments (see steps below)
    • Hybrid or Virtual meetings – Must pre-register at least one week prior to the meeting date in order to provide verbal comment.

2. Conflict of Interest disclosure – read and complete the conflict of interest disclosure and submit at least one week prior to the meeting date for persons speaking, presenting or providing written comment. Speakers who fail to submit or turn in their conflict of interest disclosure form late will have their request to speak denied or will not have their comments shared. No reminder will be provided.

3. Submit any data that will be referenced during public comment to pba_iadur@optum.comat least one week prior to the meeting date.

4. Limit speaking time to less than five minutes for individual product or entire product line.

To pre-register for verbal public comment for a hybrid or virtual DUR meeting at least one week prior to the meeting date, email pba_iadur@optum.com and include:

  • Contact Name
  • Telephone Number
  • Email Address
  • Drug Name
  • Name of Organization
  • Speaker's Name
  • Speakers relationship to organization and topic area
  • Completed conflict of interest disclosure, indicating if verbal comment will be presented in person (only for hybrid meetings) or virtually.

DUR Commission Members

  • Abby Cate, Pharm.D.
  • Rhea Hartley, M.D.
  • Jennifer Johnson, Pharm.D.
  • Melissa Klotz, Pharm.D.
  • Jason Kruse, D.O.
  • Holly Randleman, Pharm.D.
  • Caitlin Reinking, Pharm.D., CDCES
  • Emily Rogers, Pharm.D.
  • Bryon J. Schaeffer, M.D., FAAFP
  • Charles Wadle, D.O.

Professional Staff

  • Pam Smith, R.Ph. - DUR Project Coordinator