Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) has signed HB3637, authorizing health care professionals to prescribe any drug approved by the FDA before 2025 that continues to carry World Health Organization approval. The law is designed to safeguard access to abortion medication in the event of future FDA restrictions.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
The Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) Medicaid announced that based on the results of a recent cost of dispensing survey, they plan to reduce the dispensing fee by 8%, lowering it from $10.48 to $9.63, effective March 1, 2026. NACDS will submit comments by September 19, 2025, the deadline, and encourages members to do so too.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
The Department of Public Health has recently issued a standing order allowing for all qualified pharmacy personnel at Massachusetts pharmacies to dispense and administer COVID-19 vaccine in Massachusetts to all eligible persons.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Ben Pearlman at 617-515-2603.
Effective October 1, 2025, House Bill 1463 requires all sellers of pseudoephedrine products in the state to participate in the NPLEx electronic tracking system. Products from manufacturers that do not participate will no longer be processed through NPLEx after that date.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
Effective Sept. 28, 2025, NCTracks is implementing a new attestation process for Individual and Atypical Individual providers as part of initial enrollment, re-enrollment and reverification applications submitted through the secured provider portal of NCTracks. This change aligns with the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) standards.
Also in North Carolina, NCTracks will capture an Individual provider's race, ethnicity, and languages spoken during Individual provider enrollment, re-enrollment, manage change requests, and reverification applications.
Responses will not be shared outside of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and will be used only for internal purposes.
For questions, please contact the NCTracks Contact Center at 1-800-688-6696.
Also in North Carolina, the Board of Pharmacy has published its list of seven pages of rules and determined that every one of these rules are necessary except for some rules dealing with administrative or operational conduct of the Board of Pharmacy. These rules are not being amended but are being readopted, as necessary. The comment period ends for these rules on Thursday, September 11, 2025. Here is a link to all of the rules under review .
Any person wishing to submit public comments must do so by September 11, 2025. Submit written comments by mail to Jay Campbell, Executive Director, North Carolina Board of Pharmacy, 6015 Farrington Road, Suite 201, Chapel Hill, NC 27517; by fax (919) 246-1056; or by e-mail ncboprulemaking@ncbop.org.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
The second 30-day special legislative session convened on August 26, 2025.
Also in Texas, HB 25, legislation allowing pharmacists to dispense ivermectin without a prescription, was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott (R). The bill requires the Board of Pharmacy (TSBP) to adopt standardized procedures and protocols for pharmacists to follow.
Also in Texas, HB 7, legislation that strengthens existing law on abortion-inducing drugs, will allow private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes, mails or provides abortion medication to or from Texas, passed the House and is awaiting final approval in the Senate before heading to Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) desk.
Finally in Texas, HB 4535, which passed during the regular session and went into effect on September 1, 2025, is aimed at ensuring that Texans are equipped with the information they need to make informed medical decisions by requiring written informed consent prior to any COVID-19 vaccination. The Department of State Health Service (DSHS) created a COVID-19 Vaccine Information Statement to be used as a handout at the pharmacy to comply with the law.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
The Board of Pharmacy provided the following August 26, 2025, Update. It is being shared here in its entirety.
California Medication Error Reporting (CAMER)
Pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 4113.1
Business and Professions Code (BPC) section 4113.1 establishes requirements for a community pharmacy to report medication errors to an entity approved by the Board. The Board refers to this as the California Medication Error Reporting (CAMER) system. The statute requiring reporting to CAMER can be viewed at BPC section 4113.1.
In September 2024, the Board approved the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), an ECRI Company, as the entity to receive and review medication error reports under BPC section 4113.1. Consistent with its commitment to keep licensees apprised of implementation activities, in April 2025, the Board announced the availability of information about how community pharmacies can register with ISMP to report medication errors to the California Medication Error Reporting (CAMER) system. To continue its communication with licensees, the Board advises licensees that medication errors that occur on or after September 1, 2025, must be reported to the CAMER system consistent with legal requirements established.
The API to allow for direct, electronic submission of medication errors to the California Medication Error Reporting (CAMER) systems will be available beginning Friday, August 29. 2025. If you are interested in implementing the API in your internal reporting system, please email the Institute for Safe Medication Practices at: clientservices@ecri.org.
For individual pharmacies that want to implement the API, please include the following information in your communication:
For organizations and Patient Safety Organizations (PSO) that will implement the API to report on behalf of multiple pharmacies, we will need to understand the hierarchy or relationships between individual pharmacies and the parent organization and/or PSO. Please include the following information in your communication:
Once we confirm the above information and the correct relationships, if any, between individual pharmacies and parent organizations is established, an API key to use for testing purposes during the organization’s internal development process will be issued via encrypted email.
When the organization has completed their internal development and testing, they can contact ISMP for a new API key to use for submission of medication error reports. The API used during development and testing will be discontinued.
The API technical documentation to use for development will be posted by Friday, August 28, 2025 in the Frequently Asked Questions section at: https://mederrors.ismp.org/products/ca-board-of-pharmacy-error-reporting.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
The Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) is seeking comments on its proposal to cap payment for the drug Enbrel at the Medicare price. Enbrel is one of the first Medicare Part D 10 drugs to be included in the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program (MDPNP) beginning January 1, 2026. Rulemaking for Enbrel began in May, and the rulemaking hearings continued on upper payment limit (UPL) for Enbrel in July and August. The fourth and possibly final rulemaking hearing on UPL for Enbrel will be on October 3.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
On August 25, Gov. Matt Meyer (D) signed SJR 7, an act authorizing the State Employees Benefits Committee (SEBC) to utilize specific strategies and policies when interacting and contracting with PBMs in order to achieve lower cost pharmaceutical drug benefit plans for the state. NACDS supported this legislation during the 2025 session and will continue to support PBM legislation and enforcement in Delaware.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Ben Pearlman at 617-515-2603.
