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Public Comments

Guidelines for Providing Public Comment to the Iowa Medicaid Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee, Rev. 8/2020

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. In the event of a virtual meeting, only written comment will be allowed. To assure public input into the Preferred Drug List (PDL) process, the agenda for the P&T Committee is posted on the website (www.iowamedicaidpdl.com) prior to the meeting and public comment can be submitted to that website or at the meeting. Sign-up for public comment for in-person meetings must be in advance as walk-in speakers will not be permitted.

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.

The P&T Committee is interested in clinical information and health economics data that may set a product apart from other products in the same PDL category. The Committee is not interested in materials intended to market a product or repetitive comments from solicited sources. The manufacturer may provide up to a concise synopsis (one side of one page) of its product and the clinical advantages of its product in comparison to other products in its PDL category, this information should be submitted to (pba_iapdlinfo@optum.com) AT LEAST ONE WEEK PRIOR TO THE MEETING DATE so that information can be distributed to the committee members.

Any data that will be referenced during the Public Comment period 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 will be presented should be submitted to the P&T professional staff electronically at pba_iapdlinfo@optum.com AT LEAST ONE WEEK PRIOR TO THE MEETING DATE for consideration and distribution to the P&T Committee members. Data not provided in advance of the meeting may not be discussed during the public comment period.

All inquiries related to this process must be submitted to pba_iapdlinfo@optum.com.

  • Submit written comments to or sign up to speak at www.iowamedicaidpdl.com at least one week prior to the meeting date. No response will be provided to the submitted public comment.
  • Conflict of Interest disclosure - Read and complete the Conflict of Interest Disclosure (click to view) and submit at least one week prior to the meeting date for persons speaking, presenting or providing written comment for virtual meetings to pba_iapdlinfo@optum.com. Speakers who fail to submit or turn in their conflict of interest disclosure form late may have their request to speak denied or will not have their comments shared. No reminder will be provided.
  • May provide a concise synopsis of the product (one side of one page) and submit to pba_iapdlinfo@optum.com at least one week prior to the meeting date.
  • Submit any data that will be referenced during public comment to pba_iapdlinfo@optum.com at least one week prior to the meeting date.
  • Speakers must provide the Committee with the name of their organization, the speaker's relationship to the organization and topic area.
  • Limit speaking time to less than five minutes for their individual product or entire product line.
  • Direct comments toward how this product is clinically superior or the specific advantage(s) it offers, new evidence/research results or synergistic outcomes that have been demonstrated.
  • Audiovisual equipment is not allowed due to time constraints.

To sign up for public comment for the P&T Meeting, please email pba_iapdlinfo@optum.com and include:

  • Contact Name
  • Telephone Number
  • Email Address
  • Drug Name
  • Name of Organization
  • Speaker’s Name
  • Speaker’s relationship to organization and topic area
  • Conflict of disclosure form