The Board of Pharmacy issued its March 2022 newsletter that includes articles about biosimilars and legislation enacted in 2021 that expands the role of the pharmacists with prescriptive authority for immunizations and tobacco cessation.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has signed HB 37, legislation sponsored by Rep. Gayle Manning (R), that allows pharmacists to provide 30-day emergency refills without contacting the prescriber. NACDS and the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants advocated for passage of this legislation that aligns with our efforts to make COVID-19 business efficiencies permanent. The bill will be effective June 1.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
The Board of Pharmacy has issued public notices for its next two meetings to be held on March 22 and April 26. Agendas have not been posted on the website.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
The Department of Vermont Health Access recently released its March 2022 Pharmacy Newsletter. It contains information on:
Also in Vermont, the Department of Vermont Health Access issued a communication that Synagis® prophylaxis is of unproven value when administered outside of the RSV season as defined by the CDC surveillance reports. Therefore, no further shipments will be authorized after March 11.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Ben Pearlman at 617-515-2603.
The Board of Pharmacy has posted the Agenda for its March 15 meeting. Please note they will consider a Guidance Document on Pharmacy Working Conditions that you can find on page 101 of the agenda. Also on the agenda is a proposed rule on Pharmacist Initiation of Treatment that was a result of 2021 legislation that added authority for pharmacists to provide vaccines; Tuberculosis testing; HIV prevention medications; and paraphernalia, supplies and equipment to adults. The Board previously approved an emergency regulation on the same subject as well as protocols that were both effective in December 2021 and can be found on the Board website.
Also in Virginia, on April 4, the Department of Medical Assistance (Medicaid) will be switching from its Legacy Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) to the Medicaid Enterprise System (MES) for fee-for-service. As a result, the MediCall and Activated Voice Response System (AVR) eligibility systems will be down from March 30 through April 3. Please see this notice for more detail. DMAS will be sending a series of Medicaid Memos detailing the impact of these system changes on the Provider community, the latest can be found here. You can find training videos and user manuals for MES here.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
The 60-day legislative session ended its regular session on March 10. Prior to adjournment, NACDS chain pharmacy lobbyists, independent pharmacists, the Washington State Pharmacists Association (WSPA), the Northwest Grocers Association (NWG) and the Washington Retail Association (WRA) successfully stopped ESHB 1852 from advancing, legislation that would have required directions for use and auxiliary warnings on prescription labels in both English and at least 15 languages. Rather than have this issue defined by the Legislature, the coalition will be working with the Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission (PQAC) to adopt rules establishing requirements for the translation of prescription drug information.
Also in Washington, on March 4, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed into law legislation capping insulin at $35. (Chapter 10, 2022/SSB 5546)
Also in Washington, the Health Care Authority (HCA) will submit to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services by July 15th a request to renew the Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver, called the Medicaid Transformation Project (MTP), which will allow the state to create and continue to develop projects, activities and services that improve Washington’s health care system using federal Medicaid funding. The new proposals include: continuous Medicaid enrollment for children; extending coverage for postpartum services; re-entry services for individuals who are exiting jail, prison, or other correctional facility and enhancements to long-term services and supports (LTSS).
Finally in Washington, HCA efforts aimed at increasing health care cost transparency and controlling health care cost growth include:
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
The Board of Pharmacy issued a Notice of Supplemental Proposed Rulemaking 4 AAC 23 related to pharmacist delegation/technician rules; see pages 339-343. A public hearing has been scheduled for March 9 at 9:00 a.m. (local time). Please note the current proposal excludes a pharmacist’s delegation of vaccine administration by a technician which was the issue of concern in the former rules package. Please recall the technician rules package was removed from the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council’s December 2021 agenda prior to the meeting by the Board of Pharmacy over concerns expressed about technician vaccine administration.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
The Department of Health Care Services posted the following alerts to the Medi-Cal Rx Web Portal:
Also in California, the Board of Pharmacy published its March issue of “The Script.” This issue includes the following articles about:
Also in California, the Office of Administrative Law has issued a Notice of Approval for amendments to the Code of Regulations’ Division 17 of Title 16, section 1715.6, related to Reporting Drug Loss, effective April 1.
Finally in California, the following Pharmacy Law waivers issued pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 4062 expired on February 28.
Other waivers still in effect are posted online under Pharmacy Law Waivers.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection adopted regulations under RCSA 20-576 to establish standards for shared pharmacy services, which are systems in which two or more licensed pharmacies process or dispense a prescription.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Ben Pearlman at 617-515-2603.