On February 24, 2021, the Board of Pharmacy will be meeting virtually. Several issues of interest to chain pharmacies previously discussed by the Regulation Revision Committee are PBM regulations, draft legislative language on collaborative practice, and limited prescriptive authority are included on the agenda. More information on the meeting and the agenda can be found here.

Also in Louisiana, The Board of Pharmacy is holding a public hearing on February 25, 2021, to solicit comments on several issues dealing with marijuana, state of emergency, and other issues. More information about the hearing and the agenda can be found here.

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

As it is being required by CMS, the Louisiana Department of Health announced plans to launch the new Medicaid Provider Enrollment Portal for screening and enrolling both FFS and MCO patients in April of 2021. All providers must submit applications through the portal within six months of the launch. More information is available here.

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

The Louisiana Department of Health’s Medical Director of the Office of Behavioral Health, Dr. James Hussey, renewed the Naloxone Standing Order for calendar year 2021. More information can be found here.

Also in Louisiana. Effective December 23, 2020, the Louisiana Medicaid Fee for Service (FFS) Pharmacy Program and Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) announced that they are paying an administration fee of $15.92 for the first dose and $26.68 for the second dose for the COVID-19 vaccines. More information can be found here.

Lastly in Louisiana. The Board of Pharmacy is soliciting stakeholder comments and will hold a public hearing on February 25, 2021^h on two rules of interest to pharmacies.

• Proposed rule would increase the amount of medication that may be dispensed under an emergency prescription to a 90-day supply. The rule also would provide for special permitting of pharmacists licensed outside the state to allow participation in disaster relief.
• Proposed rule to clarify standards for pharmacists, pharmacies, and prescriptions and medication administration, removing outdated minimum specifications for prescription departments, extending the time for the reporting changes in the pharmacist-in-charge, and specifying that board-credentialed individuals must not be made to practice for longer than six hours without a rest break. The rule also would provide for the disposal of hard copy prescription records once stored in the electronic recordkeeping system, update the application process for pharmacy permits, remove minimum specifications for prescription departments in telepharmacy dispensing sites, and extend the quantity of medication that may be dispensed under an emergency refill.

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

The Board of Pharmacy’s Regulation Review Committee met virtually on January 26 to discuss pharmacists’ expanding scope of practice. Last Fall during the special session, the Legislature approved Senate Resolution 39 by Sen. Regina Barrow (D) directing the Board of Pharmacy to make recommendations relative to pharmacists’ testing, screening, and treatment of certain health conditions. The committee approved recommending modernizing the collaborative practice agreements and limited prescriptive authority using Oregon as the model for consideration by the full Board at their February 24, 2021 meeting. Draft language can be found at the links below.

• Regulatory Proposal 2021-A ~ Collaborative Practice
• Legislative Proposal 2021-C ~ Collaborative Practice
• Legislative Proposal 2021-D ~ Limited Prescriptive Authority

Also in Louisiana. The Department of Health (LDH) is reaching out to community pharmacies to encourage future partnership opportunities with pharmacies to better manage chronic disease and prevention. Click here for the PowerPoint Presentation. Contact LDH’s Marie Darr at marie.darr@la.gov for more information.

Also in Louisiana. Although the Prescription Monitoring Program Advisory Council’s January in-person quarterly meeting was canceled due to COVID, the Board of Pharmacy staff did provide NACDS and the other council members with the report Please click here for more information.

Lastly in Louisiana. LDH continues to add more information to its COVID-19 dashboard.  More information and updates can be found here.

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

As one of the eight members of the Louisiana Pharmacy Congress, NACDS participated in a virtual meeting hosted by the Board of Pharmacy to discuss interim study reports and proposed pharmacy legislation for 2021. Issues discussed were payment parity, expanded scope, collaborative practice agreements, and expanding access to immunizations. The Louisiana Department of Health gave a presentation on their new initiative called “Well-Ahead Louisiana,” a program aimed at partnering with pharmacies to manage chronic diseases. More information on the Well-Ahead initiative can be found here.

Also in Louisiana. The Board of Pharmacy’s Regulation Review Committee is convening a virtual Zoom meeting on January 26, 2021. The meeting access information is provided in the header of the agenda. Links to the legislative and regulatory proposals scheduled for consideration during that meeting are available at the Board’s website, in the Rulemaking Activity section of the Public Library.

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

On January 20, 2021, Louisiana Register, the Board of Pharmacy will publish new rules effective immediately that will add two new drugs to the Prescription Monitoring Program list of Drugs of Concern.

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

An emergency rule previously adopted by the Board to temporarily suspend renewal fees for various licenses, certificates, permits, and the registrations expiration date was extended until February 24, 2021.

Also in Louisiana. The Board of Pharmacy will be holding a hearing on November 25, 2020, on a proposed rule that would establish standards for licensure of pharmacy benefit managers engaged in certain activities. The rule would establish procedures for board review of applications for the initial issuance of the permit, the renewal of the permit, applications for the reinstatement of disciplined permits, and the permanent closure of a permit.

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

Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) recently appointed three new members to serve on the 17-member Board of Pharmacy: Walgreens pharmacist Troy Menard, and independent pharmacists David Darcy and Anthony Mercantile. The Governor also reappointed five pharmacists: independent Allen Cassidy, health systems Ricky Indovina, independent Ricky Mannino, independent Doug Robichaux, and hospital Raymond Strong.

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

Despite efforts by NACDS, the Louisiana Alliance of Retail Pharmacy (LARP), chain pharmacy lobbyists, and quick responses from  our Louisiana pharmacists via  the RxIMPACT Alerts, SB 51 failed to garner 20 votes after it was amended on the Senate floor to apply only to COVID vaccines. SB 51, sponsored by Senator Regina Ashford Barrow (D), would have lowered the age for pharmacists to provide childhood vaccinations without prescription order to 3 and order. NACDS will continue to work on this issue in the upcoming legislative session in efforts to align with the authority granted under the HHS PREP Act declaration.

Also in Louisiana. SB 63, also sponsored by Sen. Barrow, encountered strong opposition from the medical community at the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. SB 63 would have allowed pharmacies that do screenings using CLIA-waived tests to provide treatment based on positive test results. The bill would have provided treatment or therapy for HIV, which includes an HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, also known as PrEP, or an HIV Post-Exposure Prophylaxis, also known as PEP. Due to such strong opposition, the bill was pulled, and discussions focused on convening a study committee to work out differences in the interim.

Also in Louisiana. The Board of Pharmacy announced changes to several proposed rules. A public hearing will be held and comments on the following rules are due by October 26, 2020.

1. Notice – a proposed rule that would amend regulations under LAC 46:LIII, Chapter 12, to revise automated medication system registration eligibility criteria and add detention and correctional facilities operated by state or local governments as locations. The rule also would revise credentialing procedures, modify pharmacist-in-charge responsibilities, and require the retrospective review of medications removed from a non-profile driven system. In addition, the rule would adopt documentation requirements. The changes will also revise the requirements for stocking and restocking and specify that a pharmacy with an automated medication system on-site does not need to register the system. A hearing is scheduled for October 26, 2020, in Baton Rouge.
2. Notice – a proposed rule that would amend regulations under LAC 46:LIII, Chapter 29, to add several drugs to the definition of “drugs of concern.” The rule also would add recordkeeping requirements for prescription transactions and revise provisions on authorized access privileges, access registration procedures, and methods of access. In addition, the rule would extend the automatic registration procedures to include dispensers. The changes would also remove seven of nine drugs originally proposed and retain the drugs promethazine when present in oral liquid formulations and gabapentin.

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