Colorado
NACDS submitted a statement to the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee in support of SB19-079, legislation that would require Schedule II, III and IV controlled substance prescriptions to be electronically prescribed. The legislation subsequently passed the Senate and was introduced in the House and assigned to the Public Health Care & Human Services Committee.
Also in Colorado…NACDS submitted a statement to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee opposing SB19-005, legislation establishing a commercial prescription drug importation program in the state. NACDS outlined how the legislation would violate federal law against drug importation, undermine federally mandated security protections of the drug supply chain and increase the risk of counterfeit drugs in the state’s drug supply chain and thereby compromise patient safety.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
North Dakota
SB 2231, pertaining to collaborative practice agreements, was unanimously passed by the Senate and has been delivered to the House. NACDS submitted a letter of support to the preceding Senate Human Services Committee process.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Joel Kurzman at 847-905-0555.
Nebraska
LB 442, pertaining to medication synchronization, was unanimously advanced from the Banking, Commerce and Industry Committee to the General File. NACDS submitted a letter in support. The Unicameral website featured a short article on the proceedings.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Joel Kurzman at 847-905-0555.
Alabama
Medicaid issued an alert announcing effective Friday, February 1, the agency will begin reimbursing Medicaid-enrolled pharmacy providers for the administration of hepatitis A vaccine to eligible recipients ages 19 years and older. Medicaid will, in addition to the administration reimbursement, reimburse pharmacies for the hepatitis A vaccine.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
Arkansas
There are several bills of interest to chain pharmacies that have been filed, including mandating e-prescribing for all controlled substances (SB 174), allowing pharmacists to vaccinate anyone 7 years of age and older (HB 1278), allowing pharmacists to dispense oral contraceptives (HB 1164) and permitting substitution of interchangeable biosimilars (HB 1269).
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
California
The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced that they are targeting the Medi-Cal pharmacy fee-for-service reimbursement rate changes to begin Saturday, February 23, meaning that DHCS will retroactively adjust impacted claims with dates of service between April 1, 2017 and the targeted February 23 date of implementation.
Also in California…On January 15, the online attestation portal opened for Medi-Cal fee-for-service pharmacy providers seeking the higher of two professional dispensing fees as part of the forthcoming reimbursement changes for covered outpatient drugs.
Also in California…On January 28, NACDS and the California Retailers Association submitted a joint letter to the Senate Business and Professions Committee in support of AB 149, legislation allowing for a staggered implementation of the new serialized number requirement. Under AB 149, serialized numbers on security forms for controlled substances would take effect no later than Wednesday, January 1, 2020. In addition, the measure would authorize dispensers to fill prescriptions written on otherwise valid forms that do not meet the new serialized number requirement until Friday, January 1, 2021.
Also in California…On January 7, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed an executive order that seeks to create a single purchaser for prescription drugs. Specifically, the order seeks to create negotiating leverage for prescription drug costs by moving all purchasing of high-cost, “high-priority” pharmaceuticals to one entity and, with respect to Medi-Cal, all pharmacy services to fee-for-service.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Colorado
On January 31, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee held a hearing on SB19-005, a bill that creates the “Colorado Wholesale Importation of Prescription Drugs Act”, under which the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing shall design a program to import prescription pharmaceutical products from Canada for sale to Colorado consumers.
Also in Colorado…HB 19-1077, legislation allowing a pharmacist to dispense an emergency supply of chronic maintenance medications under certain circumstances to a patient without a prescription passed the House on January 28.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Louisiana
The Department of Health Bureau of Health Services Financing will be holding a public hearing on Thursday, February 28 on proposed rules amending the Pharmacy Benefits Management Program changing the pharmacy ingredient cost reimbursement methodology from average acquisition cost (AAC) to the national average drug acquisition cost (NADAC).
Also in Louisiana…The Board of Pharmacy finalized regulations that took effect on January 20 modifying the prescription monitoring program regulations to include naloxone as a drug of concern, thus requiring reporting and tracking for public health purposes.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Ohio
The Board of Pharmacy published guidance reminding dispensers that effective Tuesday, March 19, they will be required to report certain products containing naltrexone to the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System (OARRS). The guidance encourages dispensers to work with their vendors to ensure any system updates that may be needed are in place by the deadline.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
Pennsylvania
In its first meeting of 2019, the House Insurance Committee favorably reported HB 195, legislation facilitating medication synchronization and requiring insurers to allow for prorated copays and full dispensing fees for partial fills. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Eric R. Nelson (R) and supported by the Pennsylvania Association of Chain Drug Stores, now goes to the full House for consideration.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
Texas
The Health and Human Services Department published the quarterly Medicaid preferred specialty drug list.
Also in Texas…HB 577/SB 420, legislation that pharmacies support that would eliminate the requirement to check the prescription monitoring program when refilling certain controlled substances prescriptions, were introduced at the request of NACDS by Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D) and Sen. Dawn Buckingham (R).
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Maryland
The Medicaid Pharmacy Program announced, effective Monday, January 28, Kapyay® ER will no longer be preferred over its generic equivalent. The current Preferred Drug List (PDL) is available on the website.
Also in Maryland…The Medicaid Pharmacy Program announced, effective Friday, February 15, Reyataz® capsules will no longer be preferred over its generic equivalent.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
Massachusetts
This week, Gov. Charlie Baker (R) released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 budget request which includes a proposal for a 15 percent tax on opioid manufacturers on gross receipts from the sale of opioid products. This tax income would be used to pay for the $48 million proposed increase for treatment and other services. The total amount budgeted for these services will be $266 million. In addition, the Governor’s budget contains a provision which would give MassHealth the ability to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers over price and use a public rate-setting process for the high-cost prescription drugs similar to how rates for other Medicaid services are set.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Mike Sargent at 207-272-6435.
New York
In April 2017, the Medicaid fee-for-service pharmacy reimbursement was adjusted to NADAC plus a $10.02 professional dispensing fee. This month, the Department of Health will start the process to retroactively adjust pharmacy claims that were adjudicated effective April 1, 2017 through February 21, 2018. The Department expects this repricing to take place over the course of several months and anticipates that it will be completed by the end of December 2019. Janet Elkind, pharmacy director for Medicaid, has stated that 77 percent of pharmacies will see an increase, six percent will see no change, and 16 percent see a reduction during this readjustment period.
New York…Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) recently released his budget. Additionally, 30-day budget amendments will be released on Thursday, February 14. Among the various provisions are a series of PBM proposals and a prohibition on selling any tobacco products by pharmacies. The legislature will debate the budget and complete the budget process by Monday, April 1.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Mike Sargent at 207-272-6435.
Virginia
This week, hearings were held for HB 2559, Board of Pharmacy legislation, that provides for certain exemptions from the requirement, effective Wednesday, July 1, 2020, that any prescription for a controlled substance that contains an opioid be issued as an electronic prescription.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
Wyoming
SF 47 has passed the Senate with only two dissenting votes and has advanced to the House for consideration. The bill, among other things, requires e-prescribing of all controlled substances effective Friday, January 1, 2021.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
District of Columbia
DC Health has established a policy statement to allow pharmacists to dispense naloxone without a prescription pursuant to a standing order. The policy will allow national pharmacy organizations (NPOs) to use their own training programs and standing orders to dispense naloxone to DC residents. The NPO standing order must be signed by a DC-licensed physician. The training program must meet the requirements outlined in the policy statement. Pharmacies that are not members of an NPO can dispense naloxone if the pharmacists have completed DC Health’s naloxone training program and have signed the DC Health standing order. The DC Health training program can be found on the DCRx website. If your pharmacy would like to complete the DC Health standing order, email supervisory pharmacist Dr Justin Ortique. For more information, please visit www.dchealth.dc.gov/bop.
Iowa
Several rule changes from the Iowa Board of Pharmacy will take effect on Wednesday, January 23, including Dispensing and electronic transfer of prescriptions by pharmacy technicians, Board membership and responsibilities, Wholesale distributor licenses, Limited distributor licenses, and Third-party logistics provider licenses. Additional information on these rules and others can be found on the Iowa legislature’s rule tracking website.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Joel Kurzman at 847-905-0555.
Louisiana
On January 7, 2019, the Dr. Barbara Gee, Secretary of the Department of Health, issued a standing order for naloxone.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Oklahoma
Effective January 7, 2019, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority implemented Phase 1 of a daily Morphine Milligram Equivalent (MME) limit for SoonerCare (Medicaid) pharmacy claims. It covers both short-acting and long-acting opioid formulations. Opioid MME daily totals exceeding 240 will require prior authorization (PA) with patient-specific, clinically significant reasoning why the member requires more than 240 MME per day.* This limit will gradually decrease over a six-month period, allowing providers to develop and implement tapering plans for appropriate patients. The end goal is a target of 100 MME or less.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Wisconsin
The State Senate recently approved four appointees to the Pharmacy Examining Board. Franklin “Rocky” LaDien was reappointed to a second term, ending in 2020. Philip J. Trapskin was reappointed to a second term, ending in 2021. Cathy J. Winters was reappointed to a second term, ending in 2021. John Weitekamp was appointed to his first term, ending in 2022.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Joel Kurzman at 847-905-0555.
Oregon
Joe Schnabel, PharmD, RPh, BCPS, a former Board of Pharmacy member, has been named as the new executive director of the Board of Pharmacy. Dr. Schnabel comes from Salem Hospital where he has worked for over 30 years, most recently serving as the director of pharmacy.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
Maryland
Effective January 1, 2019, pharmacists are able to prescribe certain contraceptives to patients and be reimbursed under Medicaid and the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program. The Board of Pharmacy has published online guidance on complying with the law and the required patient screening forms
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
Kansas
Former State Sen. Vicki Schmidt (R), a pharmacist, will be sworn in Monday, January 14, as the state’s Commissioner of Insurance. The Commissioner-Elect is strong in her belief that more pharmacists should run for public office.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
Arkansas
The Board of Pharmacy published a final rule amending Regulation 7 to revise requirements for transferring prescriptions between pharmacies and dispensing Schedule II controlled substances prescriptions. The rule allows individuals other than pharmacists to transfer prescriptions, allows electronic prescription transfers and requires transfer of controlled substances to follow federal standards. The rule also clarifies that licensees may not dispense a quantity of a Schedule II controlled substance that exceeds the prescriber’s authority to prescribe. In addition, the rule clarifies language regarding partial filling of Schedule II controlled substance prescriptions. The rule took effect on January 1, 2019.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.