The National Average Drug Acquisition Cost is calculated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) through a voluntary monthly survey of retail community pharmacies. Pharmacies submit the price they paid to acquire drugs from wholesalers, specifically the invoice list price, excluding off-invoice discounts, pre-bates, rebates or other price concessions. The goal is to generate a fair national benchmark that Medicaid and other payers can use to reimburse pharmacies.
