Notice of the Board of Pharmacy announces a statewide standing order to authorize dispensing and administration of naloxone by pharmacists licensed to practice in the state. The order is effective May 18, 2020 and expires May 18, 2021. 

Also in Mississippi... Proposed rule of the Division of Medicaid would amend regulations under Title 23, Part 214, Chapter 1, Rules 1.12 to add standards that remove the beneficiary signature requirement for prescription drug delivery during a national or statewide emergency. The rule also would add to the list of facilities exempted from certain beneficiary signature requirements. No hearing is not scheduled on this rule.  Comments are due June 27, 2020. 

For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.

Notice of the Board of Pharmacy announces the suspension of the 2020 live continuing education requirements for pharmacists. The notice specifies that pharmacists, upon request, still will be required to submit evidence of five hours of education on opioid abuse and prevention, drug abuse, or addiction-related issues and a total of 15 hours for the year 2020.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.

Effective May 11, 2020, providers – whether medical or pharmacy – are prohibited from collecting co-payments from Medicaid beneficiaries. For more pharmacy specific information, please click here.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.

Mississippi State Department of Health issued the following guidance this week. HHS recently authorized pharmacists to order and administer COVID-19 tests. Pharmacies will need a CLIA Certificate of Waiver from the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) to participate in testing. It will be up to the pharmacy and the pharmacist-in-charge to deem all appropriate training for the testing to be completed. For anyone interested in conducting COVID-19 testing, please stay alert for any changes made by the FDA, HHS, MSDH, or Mississippi Board of Pharmacy. Positive test results must be reported to MSDH with patient information; negative results must be reported daily in aggregate (number) without patient information.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.

All permitted facilities are required to take an annual inventory of all controlled substances on hand on or about May 1 but no later than May 15. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy is granting an extension until July 1st for the annual inventory. Pharmacies that routinely conduct the annual inventory on a different date are expected to conduct the inventory during that same period this year

For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.

The Reeves Administration has announced temporary Medicaid changes in response to coronavirus outbreak. Additional information on policies, coding, and reimbursement related to the COVID-19 outbreak will continue to be added to a resource page on the agency’s website at https://medicaid.ms.gov/coronavirus-updates/.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.

In November, the Mississippi Division of Medicaid (DOM) introduced a new Provider Satisfaction Survey, which is a brief, electronic survey distributed to the provider community on a quarterly basis. If members haven’t yet had a chance to fill it out, the survey will remain open for another 30 days. Each survey will cover a different topic, and we will share the results once each survey is closed and the answers are compiled. For the first survey, the Department wants to hear what topics/challenges are of most interest to providers. Mississippi Division of Medicaid Provider Satisfaction Survey. The survey will remain open through the end of December.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.

In state-wide elections this week, current Lt. Governor Tate Reeves (R) defeated Attorney General Jim Hood (D) in the gubernatorial race. Mississippi requires that gubernatorial candidates not only win the popular vote, but also that they secure a majority of legislative districts as well. Of note, current State Treasurer Lynn Fitch (R) will become the state’s first female Attorney General. Additionally, Republicans gained a supermajority in the Senate and maintained their supermajority in the House. Speaker Phil Gunn (R) is expected to remain Speaker in 

Also in Mississippi… the Mississippi Division of Medicaid’s (DOM) Universal Preferred Drug List (PDL) is updated on a quarterly basis each year, with off-cycle changes made as the need arises. As a reminder to pharmacies and prescribing Medicaid providers, effective Nov. 1, 2019, three off-cycle PDL changes will occur. For more information please click here. 

For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.

The Mississippi Division of Medicaid is researching payment mechanisms pharmacists currently use to bill payers for vaccine administration. Pharmacy providers are being asked to complete this brief survey as it will be a valuable tool in future decision-making processes.

For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.