The Board of Pharmacy and the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services are offering two free continuing education offerings for a full day conference on The Opioid Epidemic: What Pharmacists Need to Know. To register for either the Friday, March 9 meeting at the University of Oklahoma Tulsa-Schusterman Center Perkins Auditorium or the Friday, March 30 meeting at Moore Norman Technology Center South Penn Campus, contact lharrison@pharmacy.ok.gov.

In a letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives Charles McCall (R), a growing coalition of stakeholders urged support for legislation that would mandate e-prescribing. The letter also refutes several erroneous claims made recently by the President of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

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

During the second special legislative session held in mid-December, lawmakers approved an additional appropriation of $17.7 million to fund the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA), including the state’s Medicaid program. These funds, coupled with the $22.8 million that was provided when Gov. Mary Fallin (R) approved sections of the appropriations bill on November 17, give the OHCA enough money to operate at current levels until April 2018. To officially withdraw the six percent across the-board Medicaid provider rate reductions that were approved by the OHCA Board on December 1 and scheduled to be effective January 1, 2018, the OHCA held a special board meeting on December 29 to reverse the proposed provider rate reductions.

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