The Board of Pharmacy, Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) and the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) issued a reminder to complete the workforce survey. HCAI, in partnership with the Board of Pharmacy and DCA, developed a workforce survey for individuals to complete during the electronic licensure renewal process. Individuals are asked to contribute to this important data collection effort by completing the survey at the time of licensure renewal. Please feel free to contact HCAI at workforcedata@hcai.ca.gov. Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the HCAI licensure data collection are also posted on the Board’s website under License Renewal Online.

Also in California, NACDS and the California Retailers Association (CRA) submitted a joint letter to the Board of Pharmacy expressing members’ concerns with recent delays in approvals of licenses and permits by the Board of Pharmacy.  In the letter, we offered to work with the Board on solutions to this issue to ensure demand for critical medications and other pharmacy services are being met.

Also in California, NACDS and CRA submitted a joint letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee to “opposed unless amended” AB 852, legislation that would revise requirements originally enacted under AB 2789 (Wood, Ch. 438, Statutes of 2018) pertaining to e-prescribing.  Of particular concern, AB 852 would require pharmacies to accept electronic prescriptions without advance notice and minus the lead time necessary to build out system capabilities both internally and with external system vendors to accommodate this.  NACDS and CRA urge lawmakers to amend the legislation to clarify that pharmacies do not have to accept electronic prescriptions from software vendors without a mutually agreeable contractual relationship with a pharmacy that includes assurances of interoperability and complies with applicable laws, regulations and industry standards.

Also in California, the Department of Health Care Services posted the following alerts on the Medi-Cal Rx Web Portal.

Finally in California, on July 28, Medi-Cal posted the following:

  • Alert: “Real Time Eligibility Transactions” – Medi-Cal is currently experiencing intermittent technical difficulties with the Point of Service system network for eligibility transactions submitted by Leased Line users.
  • News: “Coming Soon: Laboratory Test CPT Code for the Orthopoxvirus” – New CPT code 87593 created to streamline the reporting of moneypox testing. A notification for claims submission to follow.
  • News: “Update for Paper RADs and No Pay Documents” – The discontinuance of paper RAD, Electronic Fund Transfer and No Pay documents has been extended. No future discontinuance date has been announced.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.