The Insurance Commissioner issued a Bulletin #20-2023 defining business days and hours in the Prior Authorization Transparency Act.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.

Candidates interested in running for state and federal offices in 2024 filed for office on November 6 through 14, 2023. At the top of the ballot will be the Presidential race, then the four U.S. Congressional House of Representatives seats, plus eighteen members of the thirty-five member Arkansas Senate, all one hundred members of the Arkansas House of Representatives. The primary election date is March 5, 2024, followed by the runoff on April 2, 2024, and the general election on November 5, 2024.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) may call a special session in September to address property tax relief. 

Also in Arkansas, the Governor appointed two new members to serve a six-year term on the Board of Pharmacy. Clint Boone from Little Rock replaces Rebecca Mitchell and Beth Ann Davenport from Bentonville will succeed Amy Fore.  

For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) may call a special session in September to address property tax relief. 

Also in Arkansas, the Governor appointed two new members to serve a six-year term on the Board of Pharmacy. Clint Boone from Little Rock replaces Rebecca Mitchell and Beth Ann Davenport from Bentonville will succeed Amy Fore. 

For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.

The Joint Committee on Insurance and Commerce held a hearing at the Capitol on July 13. Included on the agenda was Interim Study Proposal (ISP-2023-068) by Sen. Clarke Tucker (D), draft legislation proposing to amend the Law Concerning Maximum Allowable Cost (MAC) Lists to Define a Similarly Situated Pharmacy, Clarify How a Pharmacy Benefits Manager Provided its Maximum Allowable Cost List and Establish a Private Right of Action.  

Also in Arkansas, the Insurance Department issued Bulletin 12-2023: “Application of Arkansas Prior Authorization Law to Non-Physician Healthcare Providers.” 

For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.

Janet Mann is the new Medicaid Director with the Department of Human Services. Mann has over 20 years of experience in health care and finance, including working in Mississippi Medicaid.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.

HB 1007, legislation establishing a statewide protocol that would allow pharmacists to diagnose and assess conditions for HIV and to dispense PrEP and PEP, passed the House by a vote of 95 to 0, and was heard in the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee this week.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.

HB (House Bill) 1007, legislation establishing a statewide protocol that would allow pharmacists to diagnose and assess conditions for HIV and to dispense PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) and PEP (Post Exposure Prophylaxis), was amended in the House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.

The legislature convened on January 9, 2023. HB (House Bill) 1007 was a prefile. The bill would expand a pharmacist’s authority to prescribe HIV pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP/PEP) under a statewide protocol.  

Also in Arkansas, the Department of Human Services posted pharmacy billing Medicaid copay changes and exemptions effective January 1, 2023.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.