Missouri’s MOHealthNet has updated information about its copay policy related to COVID-19. The following is an excerpt: Providers who have collected copayments from participants for dates of service January 1, 2020 through the end of the public health emergency must refund the copayments to the participants. Shared dispensing fees should not be retroactively adjusted.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Joel Kurzman at 847-905-0555.
Gov. Steve Sisolak announced that he is convening a special session of the legislature in early July to address financial and COVID–19 pandemic issues. Nevada anticipates an $812 million budget shortfall this fiscal year ending June 30, 2020 preliminary estimates indicate an approximate $1.3 billion budget shortfall for the 2021 fiscal year that starts July 1, 2020.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
On June 18th, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham convened a special legislative session to address the state’s huge fiscal shortfall caused by the oil price crash and novel coronavirus pandemic. The modified budget approved by both the House and Senate that was sent to the Governor uses a combination of spending cuts and federal funding to deal with a projected $2 billion drop in state revenue for the next fiscal year. The revised fiscal year 2021 budget reduces spending by more than $600 million, bringing the budget to $7 billion. The revised budget reduces spending by 4 percent for most state agencies.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Board Rule .1615 requires all pharmacy and DME permit applicants and holders to obtain and report an e-Profile number issued by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) as a condition of permit issuance or renewal. The renewal period opens on November 1, 2020, all pharmacy and DME permits will be required to provide their business e-Profile number on the renewal application. If a business e-Profile number is not provided, the pharmacy or DME facility will be unable to complete the renewal process. Pharmacies and DME facilities may obtain an e-Profile number without cost. Directions for doing so are found here. A few pharmacists have reached out to the Board and are experiencing technical difficulties obtaining a business e-Profile number from NABP. The issue seems to arise when a pharmacist uses the same computer, browser, and email address that the pharmacist uses to access their personal e-Profile number. NABP staff have identified that the cookies/cached information of the personal e-Profile log-in as creating the problem. NABP staff recommend the following steps prior to creating a business e-Profile: clear the cookies/cache on your current internet browser, use a different internet browser (Google Chrome and Firefox are preferable), create the business e-profile number with a different email address than the one used for your personal e-profile number. If problems persist, please contact NABP.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has announced a temporary, updated provider payment schedule for #HealthyConnections Medicaid claims submission and payments to accommodate the Independence Day holiday. Key dates are included in the full alert, which is available here.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
South Dakota Medicaid is processing a special payroll on Monday, June 29, 2020. Remittance Advices from the payroll will be available on the South Dakota Medicaid online portal on Tuesday, June 30, 2020. Medicaid will have its regularly scheduled payroll on Wednesday July 1, 2020.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Joel Kurzman at 847-905-0555.
NACDS, and our in-state partner, the Texas Federation of Drug Stores, initiated two Zoom conferences with state legislators this week. Walgreens pharmacist Ahmed Jallad participated on the call with El Paso State Senator Jim Moody, and HEB pharmacists Doug Read, Jay Bueche and Carlos Villareal joined the call with Sen. Judith Zaffarini of Laredo to discuss our pharmacy agenda: enhancing technician duties and ratios, expanding access to immunizations, and our efforts to make some of the temporary COVID Executive Order’s permanent. Both legislators were very interested expanding access to immunizations.
Also in Texas. The following rules approved by the Board of Pharmacy went into effect on June 18th.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
On June 12th, NACDS submitted a letter to the Department of Human Services Division of Medical Services in support of a proposed rule that would expand the availability of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) medications and services in the Medicaid program. If adopted, the rule would remove prior authorization for preferred oral drugs for OUD, helping to alleviate administrative burdens on pharmacists and enabling patients to receive their prescriptions in a timelier manner. Additionally, it would allow medication assisted therapy drugs to be exempt from the monthly prescription benefit limit and copay requirement, which would improve access to these important OUD therapies.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
The Board of Pharmacy is meeting via teleconference on June 18, 2020. https://pharmacy.ca.gov/about/meetings_full.shtml.
Also in California... Effective July 1, 2020, the Department of Justice adopts a Final rule regarding access to and use of the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES), a database of Schedule II, III, and IV controlled substance prescriptions dispensed in the state. The rule establishes procedures for seeking and approving access to information in the CURES database and the purposes for which a prescriber, pharmacist, interstate prescriber or pharmacist, and other interested parties may access and use the data. The rule also establishes security and privacy requirements needed to facilitate interoperability between health information technology systems and CURES.
Also in California... Comments are due on July 13, 2020 on a Board of Pharmacy Proposed rule updating licensing requirements for dangerous drug distributors, including third-party logistics providers (3PLs). The rule would add requirements for 3PLs that are similar to the requirements for drug wholesalers, establish when 3PLs must have a designated representative present and in control and require activity reporting.
Also in California... The Board of Pharmacy announced that they were reopening their offices to the public on June 15th with normal hours of operation Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Also in California... Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Will Lightbourne to serve as Director of the California Department of Health Care Services. Previously, Lightbourne was the Director of the California Department of Social Services from 2011 to 2018.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.