The Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Cecile Erwin Young announced that Emily Zalkovsky will lead the Medicaid and CHIP Services division as the Medicaid Director, effective July 1, replacing Stephanie Stephens.

Also in Texas, the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is aware of a drug shortage for the brand name Chantix in the Smoking Cessation drug class due to a manufacturing delay of this product by Pfizer. In response to the preferred brand name Chantix shortage, HHSC removed the non-preferred status from the generic product, varenicline, on the preferred drug list. 

Also in Texas, the HHSC Vendor Drug Program’s (VDP’s) Medicaid-enrolled pharmacy providers must ensure their email address is on file and up to date within the Provider Enrollment and Management System (PEMS). You can access the PEMS-associated job aid, Verifying an Email in PEMS (PDF), on tmhp.com if you need help confirming your email address. Your correct email address in PEMS means you will receive timely enrollment-related notifications from TMHP (Texas Medicaid & Healthcare Partnership). If you have marked TMHP notifications as spam or have blocked TMHP notifications, you will no longer receive those notifications. Additional information related to email addresses in PEMS is available in the Preparing for PEMS Guide (PDF) on tmhp.com. 

Finally in Texas, HHSC VDP has updated two manuals of interest to pharmacies: 

  1. The VDP Website Handbook includes several resources and references for stakeholders. Many are updated regularly and can resolve issues or prevent the need for a phone call to the help desk or emailing HHSC. This manual provides guidance and instruction on viewing or downloading manuals, forms and delimited data files. 
  2. Pharmacy Provider Procedural Manual (PPPM) is a comprehensive resource for pharmacy providers enrolled with HHSC. The VDP publishes this manual with information about benefits, policies and procedures for outpatient pharmacy claims and rebates. 

For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.