On October 26, the Senate unanimously passed SB (Senate Bill) 2480 which will authorize pharmacists to prescribe, dispense and administer HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) prevention drugs according to Department of Public Health and FDA (Food & Drug Administration) regulations and guidelines. The patient must prove they are HIV negative. The pharmacists may order an HIV test prior to prescribing and dispensing if the patient cannot provide proof of a negative HIV test. The pharmacist shall notify the patient that they will be required to be seen by a primary care provider to receive subsequent prescriptions for pre-exposure prophylaxis. A pharmacist shall not furnish a 60-day supply of pre-exposure prophylaxis to a single patient more than once every two years. The pharmacist shall notify the patient’s primary care provider following the dispensing of the drug and provide the patient with a list of local providers if the patient is not under the care of a provider. This bill will now be referred to the House of Representative for its consideration. As was the case last session, this bill will be referred to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing from where it can be considered as a stand-alone bill or as part of the debate on a comprehensive healthcare reform bill which we expect to begin in the Senate soon.
The Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy posted it’s agenda for the November 2 meeting. Three policies are on the agenda as follows:
- Policy 14-02: Board Delegated Review (BDR): The “unknown loss protocol” was removed from the policy since the Board voted for a new “controlled substance loss protocol” at the October meeting. Also added was the ability for BDR to issue a reprimand for the loss of less than #100 units of a Schedule II controlled substance.
- Policy 2021-04: Continuing Education (CE) Requirements for Pharmacists: Details for the required pain management training for collaborative drug therapy management (CDTM) pharmacists were added to the CE policy. With this addition, we request that the advisory titled “Pain Management Training for CDTM Pharmacists” be rescinded.
- Policy 2023-01: Compliance Packaging and Reusable Dose Planners: The change to this policy allows Schedule II and III maintenance medications to be placed in multidrug-single-dose compliance packages.
MassHealth posted its October monthly bulletin that announced the start dates for enforcing the ordering, referring, and prescribing (ORP) requirements. Except the information in this bulletin, all information in APB 361 and APB 376 remains in effect. Due to necessary system updates, the start date to enforce the requirement that claims processed by the Pharmacy Online Processing System (POPS) must include a prescriber who is actively enrolled with MassHealth will be delayed. This requirement will be enforced for service dates on or after May 1, 2024. Pharmacies should continue reviewing informational messages related to this requirement to avoid ORP-related denials when enforcement takes effect.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Ben Pearlman at 617-515-2603.