Gov. Ned Lamont (D) recently signed HB 7363, now Public Act 19-199, placing restrictions on clawbacks and direct and indirect remuneration (DIR) fees by pharmacy benefit managers effective Wednesday, January 1, 2020.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Ben Pearlman at 617-515-2603.
With legislation enacted for the state to comply with CMS’ Covered Outpatient Drugs Final Rule for Medicaid fee-for-service pharmacy reimbursement, next steps include filing a State Plan Amendment (SPA). To this end, the Department of Human Services (DHS) is requesting documentation of pharmacy payment of the state’s 2% wholesaler tax by Wednesday, July 31. The Minnesota Pharmacists Association has created a template to facilitate submission of acceptable documentation. The information may be emailed directly to Chad Hope, PharmD, Deputy Director, Division of Purchasing and Service Delivery at DHS.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Joel Kurzman at 847-905-0555.
As part of its ongoing process to comply with CMS’ Covered Outpatient Drugs Final Rule, Missouri HealthNet has issued a cost of dispensing survey. Instructions and information can be found on the Department of Social Services web page. Survey responses are due by Friday, August 16.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Joel Kurzman at 847-905-0555.
The Nebraska Health Information Initiative (NeHII) announced it will be changing vendors for the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. Uploading to the new site will be required by Tuesday, September 3, but will be available as early as Monday, August 5. If pharmacies are interested to be early adopters, please contact NeHII.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Joel Kurzman at 847-905-0555.
At the July 18 Board of Pharmacy workshop meeting, the Board considered changing the ratio of pharmacist and pharmaceutical technician (currently 1:3 since 2006) to 1:8 ratio where a pharmacist can supervise up to 8 technicians or up to 5 technicians and 3 technicians-in-training. Unfortunately, board members decided to pursue adopting a 1:4 ratio and removing the ability of a clerk, defined as an individual who is not a pharmacist, intern pharmacist, pharmacy technician or pharmacy technician in training, from performing any task in a pharmacy where they come into contact with any prescription drug that is not packaged for final sale and verified by a pharmacist. This issue will be on the Board’s Workshop Agenda at its Wednesday-Thursday, September 4-5 meeting in Reno.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Gov. Kate Brown (D) recently signed HB 2185, relating to pharmacy benefit managers, into law. Among the various provisions is language that eliminates retroactive fees, clawed back after payments from PBMs to pharmacies have already been made.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
The Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin reminds pharmacies participating in a Pharmacy Examining Board-approved pilot program (i.e. tech-check-tech, technician ratio, or automated technology final check), the one-page reporting form is due to the Pharmacy Examining Board by Wednesday, July 31, summarizing the pharmacy’s pilot participation from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. The reporting form for each pilot can be found here. Once completed, the form should be emailed to DSPSCredPharmacy@dsps.wi.gov with cc to Sharon.Henes@wisconsin.gov.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Joel Kurzman at 847-905-0555.
NACDS and the California Retailers Association (CRA) submitted a letter urging Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to sign AB 1803, clean-up legislation delaying the implementation of AB 315 (Chapter #905, 2018) and AB 2863 (Chapter #770, 2018) until Wednesday, January 1, 2020. Subsequently, the Gov. Newsom signed the bill into law on July 12, effective immediately. This law will provide pharmacies and health plans the time they need to set up their contracts and computer systems to allow for the cash price information to be shared effectively and efficiently when a patient chooses to pay retail price for the drug because it is cheaper. The patient can then have that amount deducted from their health plan’s required deductible.
Also in California… In response to CalRecycle’s draft regulatory text implementing SB 212 (Chapter #1004, 2018), the drug take-back and sharps law, NACDS and CRA submitted a letter detailing our concerns with the draft language. We will continue to monitor and participate in the rulemaking process.
Also in California… In response to the lawsuit filed last month by the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA) through the Californians for Access to Life-Saving Medicine, the Department of Health Care Services agreed to temporarily stop the Medi-Cal retroactive recoupments on June 14. The agreement came as the attorneys for CPhA and Deputy Attorney General (who represents the State) negotiated over the court hearing date for the judge to consider the motion for a preliminary injunction. With this agreement, CPhA has withdrawn its request for the court to consider the preliminary injunction on the shortened timeframe of July 12. Therefore, the hearing will now occur on Friday, August 30.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
The City of Lawrence Sustainability Advisory Board has voted in support of a 16-cents charge for plastic and paper bags used to carry items purchased at grocery stores and retailers. According to Board’s recommendations, revenue from the bag fee would be allocated to address the business costs associated with the policy, to support local environmental education and initiatives and to support programming for low-income Lawrence residents. The measure will advance to the Lawrence City Commission for possible action. NACDS is providing support to the Kansas Pharmacists Association to exempt out prescription bags.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.