NCPA Congratulates Texas Legislature for Passing Legislation Protecting Patient Access to Community Pharmacy
Posted on: Thursday, 31 May 2007, 09:00 CDT
ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) today applauded the Texas Legislature for passing a budget bill containing two provisions that protect patient access to community pharmacies. The provisions limit the impact of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) decision to cut the Medicaid program by $8.4 billion over the next five years by redefining pharmacy reimbursement to base it on Average Manufacturer Price (AMP). According to a Government Accountability Office study, the proposed AMP reimbursement -- issued by July 1 and fully implemented 60 days later -- will be 36 percent below pharmacies' acquisition costs.
The Texas Legislature's provisions head off a potential health care crisis of Medicaid patients losing access to prescription medications when pharmacies consider dropping out of Medicaid or go out of business. The provisions instruct the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to create a remedy.
HHSC must submit a state plan to CMS for approval that increases the state dispensing fee by the actual lost reimbursement under AMP. When the plan is approved by CMS, the changes will be implemented immediately, and any retroactive losses to pharmacies also will be covered. The new state dispensing fee will be at least $7.50 for both generic and brand name drugs under Medicaid, and could rise to as much as $12.50 for generic drugs.
"The National Community Pharmacists Association is fighting to get the federal government to reconsider its ill-conceived and ill-advised proposed Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement rate, and at the state level, legislative action is being taken to lessen the damage," said NCPA Executive Vice President and CEO Bruce Roberts, RPh. "A reimbursement formula that is 36 percent below cost is a recipe for disaster. The Texas Legislature's decision to intervene by including provisions in its budget was proactive and wise. They join Iowa and Kansas as states that passed provisions that included similar remedies. If CMS continues to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the problem, other states will have to follow with similar legislation."
The provisions will become law with Gov. Rick Perry's signature of the larger budget bill that has been sent to his desk.
"The Texas Pharmacy Association and its allies worked with the Texas Legislature for nearly 12 months prior to its legislative session in order to raise awareness about the dire consequences of the federally mandated pharmacy reimbursement changes," said Jim Martin, RPh, Texas Pharmacy Association executive director and CEO. "The provisions the legislature just passed create a workable solution to what was a potentially devastating problem of patients seeing their health needs put at risk when pharmacies are forced out of the Medicaid program or out of business altogether."
Richard Beck, RPh, vice president of pharmacy affairs for American Pharmacies, an independent pharmacy buying cooperative added, "This is a significant victory for Texas community pharmacies and for continued access for Medicaid patients who rely upon pharmacy services. I represent a lot of pharmacies in the Rio Grande Valley where there are a large number of Medicaid patients who would have seen their health put at risk if their local pharmacy is forced to contend with such a financially untenable arrangement. The Texas Legislature's insertion of these provisions into the budget bill allows many of these pharmacies to be able to breathe a sigh of relief by plugging the huge monetary gap that the federal AMP formula would have caused."
The National Community Pharmacists Association, founded in 1898, represents the nation's community pharmacists, including the owners of more than 24,000 pharmacies. The nation's independent pharmacies, independent pharmacy franchises, and independent chains dispense nearly half of the nation's retail prescription medicines. To learn more, go to http://www.ncpanet.org/.
National Community Pharmacists Association
CONTACT: John Norton, Public Relations Manager of the National CommunityPharmacists Association, +1-703-600-1174, john.norton@ncpanet.org
Web site: http://www.ncpanet.org/
Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire
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