The General Assembly has adjourned, with plans to reconvene in June to address appropriations bills, gubernatorial vetoes and legislation advancing from conference committees. All bills left on the calendar will carry over to the 2026 legislative session, including NACDS reimbursement reform and scope expansion.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
Several bills of interest to pharmacy are advancing in the final three weeks of the biennial session:
Also in Texas, Albertsons pharmacist Rob Gagliardi, who also serves as the Bedford Mayor Pro Tem, connected with his friend Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R), the influential Floor Leader for the House Republican Caucus.
Also in Texas, the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is interested in quality improvement and value-based payment initiatives for Medicaid and other publicly funded health services. HHSC is seeking a pharmacist to serve on the Value-Based Payment and Quality Improvement Advisory Committee. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission executive commissioner will appoint members to the committee to serve a term expiring December 31, 2028. Applications are due by 11:59 pm, May 23. More information is available on the website.
Finally in Texas, the Board of Pharmacy (TSBP) approved rules exempting central fill pharmacies from the 6:1 pharmacy technician-to-pharmacist ratio at the May 6 board meeting. The rules take effect immediately after publication in the Texas Register.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
NACDS sent Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) a letter asking him to veto a surcharge on prescription medications in Section 201 of HB 2081 due to its detrimental impact on pharmacy operations and patient care. This new proposed tax does not apply to retail sales of prescription drugs exempted in current law.
Also in Washington, the State Department of Health held a Sunrise Review public hearing on May 14 on pharmacist prescriptive authority. The Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee had requested a review of a proposal to increase the pharmacist scope of practice to assess whether it meets the sunrise criteria in RCW 18.120.010. The request would grant the Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission the authority to regulate licensed pharmacist prescribing outside of a collaborative agreement. NACDS and many other groups submitted written comments for the record in advance of the hearing.
Finally in Washington, the Washington Health Care Privacy Toolkit has been updated with new information, including 2024 updates to reproductive health privacy.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
It is time again for the Payment Error Rate Measurement (PERM) Cycle for Medicaid Pharmacy providers. CMS collaborates with a vendor to conduct PERM retrospective reviews (i.e., audits) on Medicaid claims, and they are beginning their reviews on our program. Of note:
The Department respectfully asks that pharmacy providers respond to ALL PERM REQUESTS in a timely manner, as this is a mandatory review; Medicaid is 'graded' on our providers' response rates.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
The May 2025 issue of the Board of Pharmacy's newsletter, The Script, is now published online. The newsletter includes information on the following:
Previous newsletters can also be viewed and downloaded. Go to the "Quick Hits" column at www.pharmacy.ca.gov and click on The Script-Archive to find electronic issues of The Script published since October 1998.
Also in California, the Board of Pharmacy published an update on medication error reporting. 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 statute requiring medication error reporting can be viewed here: 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.
Pursuant to BPC section 4113.1, "community pharmacy" includes any pharmacy that dispenses medication to an outpatient, including both resident (PHY and PHE) and nonresident (NRP) pharmacies, but does not include facilities of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Additionally, outpatient hospital pharmacies are not required to report a medication error under BPC section 4113.1 if the error meets the requirements of an adverse event that has been reported to the State Department of Public Health pursuant to section 1279.1 of the Health and Safety Code.
A community pharmacy shall submit the report no later than 14 days after the date of the error's discovery. The community pharmacy shall maintain records demonstrating compliance with this requirement for three years and shall make these records immediately available at the request of a Board of Pharmacy inspector.
ISMP, as the Board-approved entity, sent a postcard to community pharmacy licensees the week of April 21 with information about how to register with ISMP's California medication error reporting program. Registration can be completed using this website: https://mederrors.ismp.org/. If you experience any technical issues when signing up for California's medication error reporting program through ISMP, please email clientservices@ecri.org. Licensees are encouraged to register by May 24. The online reporting system will be available to submit reports in early June 2025. You will receive a follow-up email from ISMP in early June 2025 with a link to the user registration page of the online reporting system.
FAQs regarding medication error reporting are available online.
Finally in California, the Department of Health Care Service posted the following weekly notices, alerts, and monthly bulletin on the Medi-Cal Rx Web Portal.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
NACDS submitted comments to the Board of Pharmacy in support of proposed rules eliminating the current maximum pharmacy technician-to-pharmacist ratios across various pharmacy settings. Instead, the proposed rules would allow supervising pharmacists to determine the number of technicians under their oversight, thereby enabling pharmacies to optimize the use of pharmacy technicians to perform technical and administrative tasks and allowing pharmacists to dedicate more time to direct patient care.
Also in Florida, the State Legislature has passed a concurrent resolution to extend the Legislative Session until 11:59 pm on June 6, in accordance with Section 3(d), Article III of the State Constitution. All other measures in both houses were indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration of the respective House as of 12:00 am on May 3. The Legislature will only be considering bills related to the budget during the extension. Senate President Ben Albritton (R) issued a statement on the 60th day of the 2025 legislative session, announcing that the Senate has developed "a framework for a budget plan and a tentative schedule to move forward" in agreement with the House. As part of this agreement, the Senate and House are proposing a historic $2.8 billion in tax relief. The Legislature is expected to return to Tallahassee the week of May 12 to hash out differing ideas about the spending plan for the coming fiscal year.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
The Pharmacy Practice Act allows pharmacists in the state to provide PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) under a standing order issued by either an Illinois-licensed physician or the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). IDPH has now issued said standing order, along with a corresponding press release. In accordance with the law and the standing order’s protocols, pharmacists are required to complete specific training. Additionally, IDPH will monitor and collect data on the program’s utilization. For patients, IDPH has established this website.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
The Department of Health and Human Services, Iowa Medicaid posted INFORMATIONAL LETTER NO. 2685-MC-FFS-D – June 2025 Iowa Medicaid Pharmacy Program Changes effective June 1.
Also in Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) announced the US Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service approved a demonstration project for the state's own summer food pilot program. Healthy Kids Iowa is an alternative to the summer EBT program that serves Iowa children healthier foods at a lower cost by leveraging Iowa's already-existing, successful network of summer feeding programs and community providers. With the state's summer feeding demonstration project, each family will be able to select $40 worth of fresh and nutritious food for each eligible child per month. Families will be able to choose their monthly items, respecting their preferences and cultural and dietary needs. The Healthy Kids Iowa pilot program will run in June, July and August 2025.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
On May 1, the Joint Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs held another budget work session, that was called on short notice. The Chairs never brought up the pharmacy tax, nor moved the budget. The bill remains pending before the joint committee. NACDS, working with the Maine Pharmacists Association and Retail Association of Maine, helped advocate against a potential “compromise” that would have exempted the independent pharmacies from the tax. While being fundamentally unfair, that compromise would have negated the federal match, eliminating the tax’s utility. NACDS will continue to lobby the Governor’s office and the legislature throughout the budget process. The next legislative work session for the Joint Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs was May 8. The bill must be moved by the Joint Appropriations Committee and approved by both chambers of the legislature. The fiscal year ends June 30.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Mike Sargent at 207-272-6435.
