On October 30, NACDS, in partnership with seven pharmacy groups in Texas, hosted a Pharmacy Advocacy Training Day at the Capitol. The purpose of the meeting was to educate pharmacists on how to discuss issues with legislators and staff. The Executive Director of the Board of Pharmacy Allison Benz welcomed the 65 chain and independent pharmacists, encouraging them to be active in their various associations, and to engage both at the Capitol and the Board of Pharmacy meetings. A Senior Advisor for Gov. Greg Abbott (R) applauded the pharmacy groups for coming to the Capitol united on certain issues. Media pundits from the Quorum Report and Texas Tribune shared insights on Texas politics and the Speaker of the House’s race. Rep. Donna Howard (D) and Rep. Drew Darby’s (R) Chief of Staff offered advice on how to present issues to legislators and staff. Prior to the afternoon group meetings scheduled with 78 legislative offices, pharmacists engaged in role playing activities to hone their skills.

Also in Texas…The Health and Human Services Commission Vendor Drug Program (VDP) announced that they expanded the age range for optional coverage of the flu vaccine through the pharmacy benefit as of October 19. With this change, plans have the option to allow pharmacies to bill for flu vaccines provided to beneficiaries ages seven years and older in a pharmacy setting.

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

Recently appointed Board of Pharmacy public member, Daniel Guerrero of San Marcos, toured an HEB pharmacy where pharmacy staff demonstrated the basics of how a prescription is filled. They also administered a flu shot and discussed the pharmacist’s role in providing immunizations, health care screenings and MTM.

Also in Texas… At the recent hearing of the Joint Interim Committee on Prescribing and Dispensing Controlled Substances, two chain pharmacists testified on behalf of NACDS and the Texas Federation of Drug Stores. Jeremy Ashley with Brookshire Grocery Company urged lawmakers to support mandatory e-prescribing of controlled substances. Tomson George with Walgreens asked that legislators clarify the requirement that pharmacists are not required to check the prescription monitoring program for refill medications specified in HB 2561 signed into law last year.

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

NACDS and five in-state partners submitted a letter to the Health and Human Services Commission’s Vendor Drug Program Medicaid Director encouraging open formulary access to the flu vaccine for patients ages 7 years and older so flu vaccines may be administered by a pharmacist and billed to the prescription benefit, without going through the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program. In our letter, we cited data that shows that open formulary access could improve patient access and save Texas money by eliminating the barriers posed by VFC to pharmacy participation.

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

The Health and Human Services Commission’s Vendor Drug Program announced that on Monday, September 24, they will decrease the daily morphine equivalent dose (MED) limit for people enrolled in the traditional Medicaid fee-for-service program. The new limit will be set at 160 and applied to all opioid prescriptions with exceptions for those people diagnosed with cancer or those receiving palliative or hospice care.

Also in Texas…At its August 7 meeting, the Board of Pharmacy elected pharmacy technician Bradley Miller as vice president and pharmacist Donnie Lewis as treasurer.

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

The Medicaid preferred drug list (PDL) was again revised effective July 27 to include several products that were inadvertently listed as non-preferred. The PDL is also available through the Epocrates drug information system.

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

Based on member input, NACDS submitted a letter to the Board of Pharmacy commenting favorably on a proposed rule that will allow pharmacy technicians and pharmacy technician trainees to load prepackaged containers previously verified by a pharmacist or manufacturer’s unit of use packages into an automated dispensing system.

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

Governor Greg Abbott (R) announced the appointment of a new president and five new members to the State Board of Pharmacy.

• Dennis Wiesner, a pharmacist and recently retired senior director of privacy, pharmacy and government affairs for H-E-B, was appointed president.
• Donald “Donnie” Lewis of Athens is a staff pharmacist for Malakoff Pharmacy and Tyler Hematology Oncology Pharmacy.
• Rick Fernandez of Northlake is a healthcare director at Walgreens, overseeing 550+ pharmacy locations in the Texas, Oklahoma and Southern New Mexico.
• Daniel Guerrero of San Marcos is a former three-term Mayor and City Council Member for the City of San Marcos. He currently serves as a lecturer in the McCoy College of Business at Texas State University and as a business development consultant with J.L. Powers & Associates.
• Lori Henke, Pharm.D. of Amarillo is the director of pharmacy at Northwest Texas Healthcare System.
• Julie Spier of Katy is the director of pharmacy operations for the southern division of Albertsons, Randalls and Tom Thumb, where she oversees 158 locations in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.

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

On May 15, the House Select Committee on Opioids and Substance Abuse held a hearing focused on the prescription monitoring program and the role of healthcare professionals in preventing overutilization and diversion of addictive prescription drugs. This was one of a series of interim committee hearings studying how to best address the opioid abuse problem. Kroger pharmacist Jeff Loesch led the pharmacy panel educating lawmakers on the NARxCHECK program, and pharmacist Jeremy Ashley with Brookshire Grocery Company discussed mandatory e-prescribing of controlled substances. 5.

Also in Texas…The Health and Human Services Vendor Drug Program announced that there will be a one-day delay in reimbursement payments for Medicaid fee-for-service pharmacy providers, Children with Special Health Care Needs Services Program and Kidney Health Care Program because of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, May 28. Claims submitted between Friday, May 18 and Thursday, May 24 will be paid Tuesday, May 29, with deposits available Thursday, May 31. Claims submitted on or after Thursday, May 24 will resume on the regular cycle.

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

The Health and Human Services Commissions’ Vendor Drug Program (VDP) announced that beginning Friday, May 18 prescribing pharmacists will be able to enroll in Texas Medicaid as an ordering, referring or prescribing provider. In accordance with federal regulation 42 CFR 455.410, prescribing pharmacists who write prescriptions for people enrolled in Medicaid fee-for-service must enroll as an ordering, referring or prescribing provider. This requirement does not apply to Medicaid managed care. To allow prescribing pharmacists time to enroll with Texas Medicaid Healthcare Partnership (TMHP), VDP will not deny pharmacy claims when the prescribing pharmacist is not enrolled until Monday, August 20. Please refer to the TMHP website for more information and enrollment instructions.

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