Texas
The Health and Human Services Commission’s Vendor Drug Program announced that on Monday, September 24, they will decrease the daily morphine equivalent dose (MED) limit for people enrolled in the traditional Medicaid fee-for-service program. The new limit will be set at 160 and applied to all opioid prescriptions with exceptions for those people diagnosed with cancer or those receiving palliative or hospice care.
Also in Texas…At its August 7 meeting, the Board of Pharmacy elected pharmacy technician Bradley Miller as vice president and pharmacist Donnie Lewis as treasurer.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
South Carolina
The South Carolina Immunization Coalition is asking for your support to help promote Immunization Awareness Week in South Carolina during Monday-Sunday, August 13-19, by utilizing the tools and resources in this kit. The kit includes a variety of resources to help promote immunizations to all ages, with special focus on adolescents and older adults. By joining this effort, you are committing to share the important message of the importance of vaccines for disease prevention and encourage South Carolinians to check with their health care provider, pharmacist or health department to make sure they are up-to-date on recommended vaccines.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
Arkansas
Scott Pace, the Executive Vice President & CEO of the state pharmacists association, announced that he will be leaving the association at the end of September to become a partner at Impact Management Group, a lobbying, public opinion, public affairs and political consulting firm in Little Rock.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
California
On Wednesday, August 29, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development is holding a hearing on proposed rules to require prescription drug manufacturers to notify and disclose information relating to the cost and pricing of prescription drugs.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Louisiana
The Department of Health (LDH) reported that Mercer received 872 responses to the cost of dispensing survey. LDH will share the complete final report with pharmacy stakeholders soon.
Also in Louisiana…Medicaid Program Integrity (PI) identified approximately $23 million in claims-related overpayments for services over the past 20 years. There are some pharmacy claims that Medicaid will make an effort to collect by offsetting future submitted claims, so LDH sent 479 overpayment letters to pharmacies.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Oklahoma
At the Board of Pharmacy’s emergency meeting on July 25, Executive Director Chelsea Church was fired effective immediately. Church is under investigation by the District Attorney for allegedly offering a high paying job to a Health Department lawyer in exchange for writing rules requiring a pharmacist at medical marijuana dispensaries.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Texas
The Medicaid preferred drug list (PDL) was again revised effective July 27 to include several products that were inadvertently listed as non-preferred. The PDL is also available through the Epocrates drug information system.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Arkansas
Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) appointed pharmacist Lynn Crouse, PharmD, to a six-year term on the Board of Pharmacy.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
South Carolina
The Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) will hold a stakeholder meeting on Tuesday, August 7, from 10:00 am to 12: 00 pm to receive community input on proposed revisions to the state’s Immunization Registry regulation (Regulation 61-120). Proposed revisions will allow DHEC to provide specific data from the Immunization Registry to health plans. Proposed amendments may also include: (1) details regarding the availability and use of a patient portal, which will be a feature of the new Registry; (2) clarifications pertaining to patient consent for the new patient portal and (3) revisions to bring the regulation into conformity with updates and improvements to the Registry and advancements in public health practice. Details about the meeting, including registration to attend, is available online.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
Texas
Based on member input, NACDS submitted a letter to the Board of Pharmacy commenting favorably on a proposed rule that will allow pharmacy technicians and pharmacy technician trainees to load prepackaged containers previously verified by a pharmacist or manufacturer’s unit of use packages into an automated dispensing system.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
California
On June 28, the California Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law AB 375, which is sweeping new privacy legislation that will place numerous additional privacy requirements on businesses and give consumers broad, new rights. This legislation, though officially opposed by the business community, was presented by legislators to the industry on June 21 as a “take it or leave it” alternative to the Consumer Privacy Initiative, which would have appeared on the November ballot.
Effective Wednesday, January 1, 2020, the law gives consumers various rights with respect to their personal information collected by businesses—the right to access it, the right to delete it, the right to know what information/categories of information are collected, the right to know whether that information is being sold or shared, the right to stop a business from selling that info and the right to equal service and price. It also contains a private right of action for data breaches and gives enforcement and regulatory powers to the Attorney General.
AB 375 impacts any business with gross annual revenues over $25 million that collects consumers’ personal information. Compliance will consist of new notice and disclosure requirements, privacy policy revisions and limitations on what information can be collected, shared and sold.
Also in California…Gov. Edmund Brown, Jr. (D), announced the re-appointment of public member Ricardo Sanchez, and new appointment of acute care pharmacist Maria Serpa to the Board of Pharmacy.
Also in California…The executive officer of the Board of Pharmacy, Virginia Herold, announced that she will be retiring at the end of the year. Prior to assuming the position in January 2007, she served as assistant executive officer of the Board for 16.5 years and interim executive officer for seven months.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Nevada
In response to a request to increase the pharmacy technician-to-pharmacist ratio from 3:1 to 8:1 in pharmacies that do not dispense prescriptions, the Board of Pharmacy agreed to schedule the issue for consideration at a workshop meeting on Thursday, September 6 in Reno.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
California
SB 1442, legislation sponsored by United Food & Commercial Workers Union that requires no pharmacist to be left alone in a store, was successfully amended recently. As amended, the bill will both refer to “community pharmacy” and include an itemization of exempted entities to make very clear which pharmacies must comply. Redrafted language regarding the bill’s core requirement will read that an employee must be “made available to assist the pharmacist at all times.” This redrafted language was negotiated to ensure that any employee in the store can assist the pharmacist, if needed, and not just a pharmacy technician or pharmacy clerk. The final language exempts the new requirements from the misdemeanor provisions without further specifying remedies, essentially retaining the Board of Pharmacy’s enforcement options while ensuring violations won’t constitute a new crime.
Also in California…AB 2789, legislation by Assemblymember Jim Wood (D) sponsored by the Board of Pharmacy that will require all prescriptions to be transmitted electronically by Saturday, January 1, 2022, was again amended in the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 3.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Louisiana
On July 10, Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) announced three new appointments and two re-appointments to the 17-member Board of Pharmacy. New appointees include:
- Robert Cloud, PharmD, Director of Pharmacy at the Glenwood Regional Medical Center,
- Kevin LaGrange, an independent pharmacist at Professional Arts Pharmacy and
- Rock LeBas, an independent pharmacist and owner of Glenn’s Family Pharmacy and son of Rep. Bernard LeBas (D).
Serving another term are Rhonny Valentine, a pharmacist who provides relief work for retail pharmacies, and Blake Pitre, a pharmacist and owner of B&J Pitre Pharmacy.
Also in Louisiana…Ben Orlando, RPh with Brookshire Pharmacy in Monroe was honored as the 2018 Louisiana Chain Pharmacist of the Year at the Louisiana Pharmacists Association’s Annual Meeting held last weekend in Lafayette.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Colorado
Failing to receive an endorsement from the Democrat Party, Ballot Initiative 146: Healthcare Price Transparency will not be on the November 6 ballot. Similar to legislation (HB18-1358) that Planned Parenthood, chain pharmacy and a broad-based healthcare coalition defeated this past legislative session, this ballot initiative would have required all healthcare providers that receive and treat patients to provide an easily accessible list of prices for each healthcare service offered. The price list would have to be provided in printed form and electronically.
Also in Colorado…In advance of the July 19 Board of Pharmacy meeting, based on member input, NACDS submitted comments on the proposed rule on perpetual inventory. NACDS raised the concern that the language specifying that pharmacies keep a perpetual inventory that includes counts for “outdated” controlled substances could create confusion, so we provided clarifying language.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Missouri
Gov. Mike Parson (R) signed into law SB 826, with wide ranging provisions impacting community pharmacy. First, the law prohibits initial opioid prescriptions of more than a seven-day supply for acute pain with exceptions. Pharmacies and pharmacists will not be subject to disciplinary action, or civil or criminal liability for refusing to fill a prescription that exceeds the prescribing limits. Second, the law also authorizes consumer drug disposal through various U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-approved options, but does not mandate pharmacy participation, and the bill preempts local drug disposal ordinances. The law provides that the state government will also develop a drug disposal education and awareness program for consumers. Third, the bill expands pharmacist immunization authority by lowering the patient age from 12 to 7 years for pharmacists to administer vaccines by written protocol and adds viral influenza to the list of allowed vaccines. For pharmacists administering vaccines, the pharmacist shall enter and inform the patient of entry of the vaccination into the ShowMeVax system. Finally, the law prohibits PBMs from charging patients co-pays that are more than the cash price for a drug and prohibits gag clauses.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Joel Kurzman at 847-905-0555.
Oregon
The Oregon Board of Pharmacy held its first Rules Advisory Committee meeting to consider revisions to proposed rules that would require all supervisors of Oregon pharmacists-in-charge (PICs) to be Oregon-licensed pharmacists and would give PICs carte blanch over the pharmacy operations without regard to company policy. Initial comments will be sent out by the Board staff, with an additional meeting to be scheduled in late July/early August.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
New York
At the request of NACDS and the New York State Pharmacy Coalition, the New York State Department of Health issued the New York State Opioid Annual Assessment Reporting Guidance for pharmacies about how to manage any obligations for opioids that are stored in intracompany distribution centers in the state under the newly created opioid assessment program that was established by the enactment of the Opioid Stewardship Act. The guidance was effective July 1 and reporting requirements are effective on Wednesday, August 1.
Also in New York…This week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed S9100, The Drug Take Back Act, into law. The newly enacted law requires certain drug manufacturers to fund a statewide drug take back program to be implemented by pharmacies operating in 10 or more locations. It takes effect in 180 days and 180 days from then the manufacturers are required to submit their drug take back plans to the New York State Department of Health (DOH) for approval. Also, DOH is authorized to begin to develop regulations and other work around implementation prior to the effective date.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Mike Sargent at 207-272-6435.
Mississippi
Effective July 1, the Division of Medicaid (DOM) allowed certain physician-administered drugs to be billed and reimbursed as either a medical claim or a pharmacy point-of-sale (POS) claim. Currently, many physician-administered drugs may only be billed as a medical claim. In order to implement this change, DOM has created a new category of drugs and drug-system devices, which may be billed as either medical or pharmacy POS claims. This new category is known as Clinician Administered Drugs and Implantable Drug System Devices (CADD). The list of drugs included in the CADD category is available online. To create the current list, DOM identified the drugs where reimbursing only by medical claims has caused the greatest access issues and targeted those for the CADD category. Additional drugs may be added to the category in the future.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
Alaska
Gov. Bill Walker (I) has received SB 32, biosimilar legislation allowing pharmacists to substitute interchangeable biologic products. The governor has 20 days from July 10 to sign or veto the bill, or it will be enacted without his signature.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
Washington
The Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission (PQAC) held an emergency meeting to discuss the Medical Quality Assurance Commission’s (MQAC) request seeking a formal Attorney General’s Opinion regarding the use of the term “diagnosis” in a Collaborative Drug Therapy Agreement. Pharmacists, practitioners, or patients currently utilizing a Collaborative Drug Therapy Agreement may also wish to submit comment. Note that you must notify the Attorney General by Friday, July 13that you intend to provide comment. The Attorney General’s Office will then provide information on how and when the comments should be submitted. If you would like, the PQAC would appreciate a copy of the comments you submit to the Attorney General. These can be copied to the PQAC email address.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
Pennsylvania
An Administration Budget Proposal that would have required data collection from pharmacies next year, in anticipation of a pharmacy tax the following year, was rejected by the House and Senate Republican Caucuses and did not make it into the final budget.
Also in Pennsylvania… two measures championed by pharmacy made advancements as the General Assembly broke for summer recess:
- HB 1800 – Medication Synchronization – was passed out of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, received two floor considerations and then was re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee for a Fiscal Note. We anticipate final action on this bill when they reconvene in the fall.
- HB 353 – Mandatory E-Prescribing for Controlled Substances – After extensive negotiations with the Pennsylvania Medical Society (PMS), the bill was voted out of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee last week with support from a number of allies. This bill also had two floor considerations and then was re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee for a Fiscal Note. We also anticipate this bill moving forward in the Fall.
Also in Pennsylvania… In the June 12, 2018, Provider Bulletin, PACE announced new edit criteria for benzodiazepines, sedative hypnotics, muscle relaxants and opioids effective Monday, July 23.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
Florida
Effective Thursday, July 5, the final rule of the Department of Health, Board of Pharmacy, amends regulations under FAC 64B16-28 regarding requirements for use of automated pharmacy systems (APS) in community pharmacies. The rule specifies that pharmacies may use an APS if system operation is under the supervision of a pharmacist or is located within the prescription department, adjacent to the prescription department or on the establishment of the licensed pharmacy. The rule also specifies that the system must include a mechanism to ensure that the patient or an authorized agent of the patient can communicate with a pharmacist responsible for dispensing the medical drug product. In addition, the rule revises additional requirements for patient accessed automated pharmacy systems.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
Tennessee
Effective Sunday, July 1, all gabapentin products will be Schedule V controlled substances in the state of Tennessee as a result of the enactment of HB 1832 (Public Chapter Number 1040). Gabapentin is also known under the brand names Neurontin, Horizant, Gralise, Gabarone and Fanatrex.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
Oregon
Effective June 19, the Board of Pharmacy had published a final rule amending regulations under OAR 855-019 to allow any person, having once lawfully obtained naloxone, to possess, distribute or administer it for the purpose of reversing an opiate overdose. The rule also requires oral counseling on the use of naloxone be offered by pharmacists rather than require that such counseling be provided.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.