The Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) announced during this week’s quarterly pharmacy forum that they have applied for a waiver with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to allow them to pay pharmacies for immunizations administered to Fee-For-Service beneficiaries. DHCF expects CMS to take action on the waiver in Jan. 2020. NACDS will keep members updated as the process continues.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
DC Health has established a policy statement to allow pharmacists to dispense naloxone without a prescription pursuant to a standing order. The policy will allow national pharmacy organizations (NPOs) to use their own training programs and standing orders to dispense naloxone to DC residents. The NPO standing order must be signed by a DC-licensed physician. The training program must meet the requirements outlined in the policy statement. Pharmacies that are not members of an NPO can dispense naloxone if the pharmacists have completed DC Health’s naloxone training program and have signed the DC Health standing order. The DC Health training program can be found on the DCRx website. If your pharmacy would like to complete the DC Health standing order, email supervisory pharmacist Dr Justin Ortique. For more information, please visit www.dchealth.dc.gov/bop.
