The Board of Pharmacy is meeting via teleconference on June 18, 2020. https://pharmacy.ca.gov/about/meetings_full.shtml.  

Also in California... Effective July 1, 2020, the Department of Justice adopts a Final rule regarding access to and use of the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES), a database of Schedule II, III, and IV controlled substance prescriptions dispensed in the state. The rule establishes procedures for seeking and approving access to information in the CURES database and the purposes for which a prescriber, pharmacist, interstate prescriber or pharmacist, and other interested parties may access and use the data. The rule also establishes security and privacy requirements needed to facilitate interoperability between health information technology systems and CURES.  

Also in California... Comments are due on July 13, 2020 on a Board of Pharmacy Proposed rule updating licensing requirements for dangerous drug distributors, including third-party logistics providers (3PLs). The rule would add requirements for 3PLs that are similar to the requirements for drug wholesalers, establish when 3PLs must have a designated representative present and in control and require activity reporting.  

Also in California... The Board of Pharmacy announced that they were reopening their offices to the public on June 15th with normal hours of operation Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 

Also in California... Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Will Lightbourne to serve as Director of the California Department of Health Care Services. Previously, Lightbourne was the Director of the California Department of Social Services from 2011 to 2018.

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

The Board of Pharmacy is scheduled to meet via teleconference on June 18, 2020. Link to agenda – https://www.pharmacy.ca.gov/meetings/agendas/2020/20_jun_bd.pdf 

Also in California... The Department of Health Care Services that manages the Medi-Cal fee-for-service program announced the annual check-write two-week delay. Medi-Cal fee-for-service providers scheduled with a warrant date of June 18, 2020, will be deferred until July 2, 2020, a day after the start of the new fiscal year. 

Also in California… Assembly Member Jim Wood’s bill AB 2100 that NACDS, the California Retailers Association and the California Pharmacists Association strongly support passed off the Assembly floor on June 6th by a 62-0 vote. bill requires the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to contract with a vendor to survey specialty drug price information for the purpose of determining the actual acquisition costs (AACs) for specialty drugs. It also requires DHCS to provide a disease management payment to a pharmacy pursuant to a contract with DHCS for the costs and activities associated with dispensing specialty drugs. The bill corrects the “below-acquisition cost” reimbursement issue caused by the new methodology mandated by the Affordable Care Act in 2016. Further it repeals the Medi-Cal fee-for-service (FFS) limit of no more than six prescribed drugs per month unless prior authorization is received and repeals the Medi-Cal $1 copayment.  

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

NACDS is seeking member comments on Board of Pharmacy approved regulations changing pharmacist consultation requirements that now require either the consultation occur within 10 minutes or a return business call within one business hour.  The regulations are currently under final review at the Office of Administrative Law.   

Also in California... The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) that oversees Medi-Cal announced that Director Brad Gilbert is retiring in June. 

Also in California... The Board of Pharmacy adopted an Emergency rule under 16 CCR 1747 to establish standards for initiating and providing to patients’ HIV preexposure and postexposure prophylaxis and related recordkeeping requirements. The rule was effective April 30th and expires October 27, 2020. 

Also in California... In advance of the June 2nd Assembly Appropriations Committee hearing, NACDS and the California Retailers Association weighed in on two issues important to chain pharmacies. We submitted a joint letter supporting legislation which will extend for five years the sunset on existing law that allows pharmacists to furnish sterile syringes without a prescription (AB 2077-Ting).  We also submitted a joint letter opposing a bill which would prohibit pharmacies from automatically contacting prescribers to authorize a prescription for any dangerous drug or device for more than a 7-day supply refill without authorization from the prescriber or patient. The bill also requires a pharmacy to obtain separate authorization for each prescription and would prohibit a pharmacy from requesting more than the number of refills authorized in the original prescription. (AB 2983-Holden). 

Also in California... The Board of Pharmacy posted important information for pharmacies that were vandalized, looted or set on fire during recent violence in California. 

Also in California... The Board of Pharmacy is scheduled to meet on June 18, 2020 via teleconference. The agenda and instructions on how to join the meeting will be posted on the meetings page at the Board’s website. 

Also in California...  Expecting a delay in processing payments for license renewals submitted by mail during the last week of June and first two weeks of July, the Board of Pharmacy recommends that if your license expires June 30 or July 1, 2020, you need to mail payment by June 11, 2020 to ensure the online verification system accurately reflects your renewal status process during the delay period. Alternatively, pharmacists, advance practice pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and designated representatives can renew your license online, and the processing of online renewal payments will not be delayed. 

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

NACDS continues to try to remove the remaining laboratory requirement in California that poses a barrier to pharmacies expanding COVID-19 testing. NACDS and our in-state partner, the California Retailers Association, followed up with the California Department of Public Health Testing Task Force and Health and Human Services Agency providing detailed information from other states on the safe administration of these tests by pharmacies not subject to such laboratory requirements.  

Also in California... As the June 30, 2020 end of the fiscal year approaches, the Board of Pharmacy is encouraging pharmacists, advance practice pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and designated representatives are encouraged to renew your license online to avoid a possible delay in processing.

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

Gov. Gavin Newson’s released his May Revised 2020-21 Budget last week projecting a $54.3 billion deficit. Since the state’s constitution requires that the legislature submit a balanced budget to the Governor by June 15, 2020, and that the Governor must sign it before the start of the next fiscal year on July 1, 2020, legislators are scrambling to hold hearings on the proposed massive cuts. NACDS and the California Retailers Association submitted a joint letter to both the Senate and Assembly Budget Committee Chairs strongly opposing the proposed elimination of Medi-Cal reimbursement of pharmacist-delivered services such as providing self-administered hormonal contraceptives, vaccines, nicotine replacement products, travel medications, naloxone directly to patients and PEP/PrEP for HIV prevention. 

Also in California... In advance of the Assembly Business & Professions Committee hearing, NACDS and the California Retailers Association submitted a joint letter opposing SB 2983 by Assembly Member Chris Holden, because it would prohibit pharmacies from automatically contacting prescribers to authorize a prescription for any dangerous drug or device for more than a 7-day supply refill without authorization from the prescriber or patient. Further, we objected to the requirement that a pharmacy obtain separate authorization for each prescription. 

Also in California... The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services debated health care cuts proposed by the Department of Finance, which included cuts to the proposed Diabetes Prevention Program. NACDS is a member of a broad-based coalition building support to advance Medi-Cal funding for Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs). 

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

The Department of Finance announced that the state’s revenue decline, estimating late last week that the overall budget deficit is approximately $54.3 billion. 

Also in California... On May 12th, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced efforts to expand the state’s ability to provide more COVID-19 testing, including using pharmacists to test. For pharmacists to help, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) issued the following DCA waiver DCA-20-14 Restrictions on Pharmacists Ordering and Collecting Specimens for COVID-19 Tests.  

Also in California... Having received approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the Department of Health Care Services’ (DHCS) request for multiple Section 1135 flexibilities related to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), new guidance was issued. To the extent applicable, the following modifications also apply to CHIP through the duration of the public health emergency: 

• Extending pre-existing authorizations. 
• Accommodating circumstances that require relocation to an alternative setting to ensure the continuation of needed home and community-based services (HCBS). 
• Temporarily waiving written consent under HCBS programs and permitting documented verbal consent as an alternative.  

Also in California... NACDS participated in the Zoom Board meeting on May 7th where the following actions were taken. 

• Re-elected President Greg Lippe, Vice President Debbie Veale, and Treasurer Maria Serpa to one-year terms as officers. 
• Delegated authority to the president to grant Pharmacy Law waivers for up to 90 days and to extend existing waivers for up to 90 additional days. 
• Approved a proposed regulation to add Title 16, CCR section 1714.3, Community Pharmacy Staffing without NACDS’ amendments.

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

NACDS, the California Retailers Association, and the California Pharmacists Association have submitted numerous requests over the past several weeks and continue to encourage the Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) Administration to waive existing barriers to allow pharmacists to order and administer COVID-19 and anti-body tests. By allowing pharmacists the ability test, as the state reopens, it will be able to better implement track and trace policies crucial to getting the state’s population back to work.   

Also in California… The Assembly returned to the Capitol on Monday, May 4th, and the Senate announced their session will resume on Monday, May 11th. 

Also in California… An emergency rulemaking action to add section 1747 to Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations relating to the independent initiation and furnishing of HIV preexposure and postexposure prophylaxis as authorized by Statutes of 2019, chapter 532 (SB 159) was finally approved by the Office of Administrative Law. The Notice of Approval and the text of CCR section 1747 – Independent HIV Preexposure and Postexposure Prophylaxis Furnishing, can be viewed on the Approved Regulations page at the Board of Pharmacy’s website, www.pharmacy.ca.gov. 

Also in California… Effective April 1, 2020, an Order of Adoption of a proposal to amend the Protocol for Pharmacists Furnishing Naloxone Hydrochloride was announced by the Board of Pharmacy. To view the regulation and Naloxone Fact Sheet, go to the Approved Regulations on the Board’s website – www.pharmacy.ca.gov. 

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

The California State Board of Pharmacy (Board) is proposing an emergency action to add regulations related to the independent initiation and furnishing of HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and HIV postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to patients, as authorized by Senate Bill (SB) 159 (Wiener, Chapter 532, Statutes of 2019). The proposed regulation would establish the criteria that a training program for participating pharmacists must meet for approval by the Board and the recordkeeping requirements for a pharmacist who has completed the training program.  

Also in California... Despite the fact that the Board of Pharmacy announced that they would extend the comment period to April 30, 2020, NACDS and the California Retailers Association submitted a joint comment letter to the Board of Pharmacy to express our concerns regarding the proposed regulations as unworkable and over-restrictive for staffing requirements for community pharmacies. Our letter stressed that it is crucial that pharmacies have the ability to address fluctuations in staffing but also designate the type of employee that will provide assistance rather than a particular individual. 

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

This week, California joined with Oregon and Washington in a Western States Pact to coordinate the regional reopening of the economy as the COVID-19 pandemic progresses.

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