Beginning Wednesday, October 3, pharmacies will have to report any Schedule V drug requiring a prescription and any naloxone dispensed to the Prescription Monitoring Program. The change is the result of a Board of Pharmacy final rule published in the VA Register.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
On September 10, CMS issued a letter to the Health Care Authority stating the agency is “unable to approve Washington SPA 17-0002 as submitted because it does not comply with section 1902(a)(30)(A) of the Social Security Act (the Act), and the applicable federal regulations.”
For more information, contact NACDS’ Sandra Guckian at 703-774-4801.
The Department of Health (MDH) is seeking retail pharmacists to serve on the Drug Utilization Review (DUR) Board. New members will be appointed in January 2019 and applications are due Friday, September 14. Information concerning duties and powers of the board can be found in the latest issue of the Maryland Register. Interested applicants must submit a formal application through the MDH’s Office of Appointments and Executive Nominations. For further information or questions, contact Kim Bennardi of MDH.
The Legislature adjourned on August 31. Numerous bills of interest to chain pharmacy have been sent to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) who has until Sunday, September 30 to sign into law, veto, or allow them to become law without his signature.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signed into law the following legislation:
For more information, contact NACDS’ Joel Kurzman at 847-905-0555.
The Division of Medicaid has placed new requirements on the MississippiCAN Coordinated Care Organizations that will take effect Monday, October 1. The purpose of these requirements is to enable pharmacy providers to identify and separate PBM lines of business in their front-end claims processing systems.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
NACDS recently learned that beginning August 7, the Department of Human Services (DHS) began paying pharmacies an increased professional dispensing fee (PDF) of $10.00 for Medicaid fee-for-service pharmacy claims. The increased PDF was approved by CMS in late July. Last summer, DHS filed a SPA for NADAC + $7.00 PDF that NACDS opposed. In addition to filing comments with CMS and DHS expressing concerns with the SPA, NACDS met with Medicaid staff and supported the efforts of in-state partners with legislators to oppose the $7.00 PDF.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
NACDS and five in-state partners submitted a letter to the Health and Human Services Commission’s Vendor Drug Program Medicaid Director encouraging open formulary access to the flu vaccine for patients ages 7 years and older so flu vaccines may be administered by a pharmacist and billed to the prescription benefit, without going through the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program. In our letter, we cited data that shows that open formulary access could improve patient access and save Texas money by eliminating the barriers posed by VFC to pharmacy participation.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
The Department of Justice which operates the prescription drug monitoring program called CURES is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, August 28 to educate approved healthcare practitioners and pharmacists on how to utilize a new technology system to access information in the CURES database. Registration is available online.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.