In response to a request from the State Board of Pharmacy Executive Director Kimberly Grinston, NACDS and the Missouri Retailers Association submitted several pharmacists and pharmacy technicians’ names for consideration to serve on the new task force to study working conditions.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Governor Phil Murphy (D) signed into law A5820/S3866 ending the COVID 19 Public Health Emergency that has been in place since March 9, 2020. Many of the executive orders issued under the Public Health Emergency will expire by July 4, 2021. Only Executive Orders that govern vaccinations and testing will remain in effect until January 11, 2022.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Ben Pearlman at 617-515-2603.
The New York State Legislature adjourned on June 11 after passing a flurry of proposals in the last hours. Of particular interest to pharmacy are four bills:
Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) has until December 31, 2021, to sign the proposals into law.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Ben Pearlman at 617-515-2603.
Beginning July 1, North Carolina will transition from a fee-for-service Medicaid program to Managed Care. More information on this transition can be found here. You may also find the June 16, 2021, Managed Care Transformation update for pharmacy stakeholders presentation here. Of note, 90-day fills and mail and delivery fees from local/community pharmacies, which were flexibilities granted during the COVID State of Emergency have been made permanent. Also Slide 18 on the presentation contains important Medicaid billing updates.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
Last week, the General Assembly voted to terminate the Governor’s disaster declaration. Both chambers then subsequently passed legislation, which Governor Wolf (D) signed, that extends all statutory and regulatory waivers until September 30, 2021. We anticipate further legislative action in the fall related to the continuation of some waivers and flexibilities beyond September 30 and will continue to update members on those efforts.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has informed the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) that the South Carolina Healthy Connections Medicaid program will participate in the Payment Error Rate Measurement (PERM) program for State Fiscal Year 2022. CMS’ PERM program was developed to measure the accuracy of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) payments made by states. Each state is reviewed once every three years. Samples of claims with paid dates of July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022, will be subject to review. You can review the entire bulletin here.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
NACDS continues to strongly advocate, through social media messaging and pharmacists contacting Gov. Greg Abbott (R) before Sunday, June 20, 2021, that the governor sign into law HB 1919, legislation that would help maintain patients’ right to choose a pharmacy provider by prohibiting health benefit plans and pharmacy benefit managers from “steering” patients to use any in-network pharmacy provider over another.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
The Board of Health published a notice to announce the removal of the opioid antagonist samidorphan from Schedule II of the Controlled Substances List attached to regulations under AAC 420-7-2. The action is a response to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration removing the substance on April 19. The action is effective May 19, 2021.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
HB 145, modernizing the pharmacy practice statutes, passed both the House Labor and Commerce Committee and the House Health and Social Services Committee earlier this year and will carry over and remain active for consideration as 2021-2022 continues next year. The bill defines patient care activities pharmacists may provide and empowers the Board of Pharmacy to regulate those services; empowers the Board of Pharmacy to more effectively regulate pharmacy support staff; and supports reimbursement for health care services by defining those services and including pharmacists in the state’s provider anti-discrimination statute.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
