CEO Message April 25, 2008
Author: Lynn Rolston
Dear Member,
Budget Cuts Update
On Monday, the first lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court to enjoin the 10 percent cut in Medi-Cal provider payments. The attorney who filed this suit is Lynn S. Carman of Novato. The suit was filed on behalf of the largest California independent living center, two southland pharmacies and two Medi-Cal recipients. We'll keep you posted on the progress of this action.
Budget Cuts PR Campaign
The PR campaign is fully underway and thanks to all of you, the petitions are rolling off the fax in Sacramento by the dozens. On Tuesday, I, along with members of the California Chronic Care Coalition, met with members of the Governor's staff to discuss the 10 percent budget cuts. We presented them with a two-inch stack of petitions that we received recently. They were extremely impressed and very concerned with the problems we presented. It is critical that you continue to send in as many completed petitions as possible. We also launched Patients for Access to Medicines website at www.calaccessrx.org where you can download petitions and additional information. We are in the process of collecting stories about patients who will be seriously, adversely affected in the event that they cannot get their medicines after July 1, 2008. We are also very interested in collecting stories of how these cuts will impact your pharmacy business. Please help us by submitting these compelling stories as soon as possible to Bill Bradley at bill@perrycom.com.
Legislative Activities
We continue to meet with as many legislators as we can on this issue. On Legislative Day, we met with nearly ¾ of the Legislature, thanks to your participation. We will soon be working with the Locals to set up grassroots meetings in each legislative district where you can, again, meet with your legislator to explain this tragedy in the making.
AB 2535 (Hernandez)
This CPhA sponsored bill is coming up soon for a hearing in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. We are working very hard to convince Assembly members of the value of this bill, which would create a bi-annual review of the dispensing fee on Medi-Cal. This has long been needed to protect pharmacy.
Cost of Dispensing Study Underway
Our cost of dispensing study, which supports the above legislation as well as helping to refute the notion that pharmacy is overpaid, is now underway. We need your participation. This study is conducted online in terms of data collection at www.pharmaccount.com. It is very easy to do and is completely free. Pharmacies will receive a report regarding their own individual cost of dispensing. We need you to participate. Please contact Veronica Van Orman at 916-779-1400 x. 311 or at vvo@cpha.com.
Pharmacy Defense Fund of California
We are so grateful for the many contributions that we have received over the last couple of weeks. Many individual pharmacists have stepped up and submitted very generous contributions. Additionally, we have been told that the Korean Pharmacists Association is planning to significantly increase their contribution. Just yesterday, Francine Silvestro from Leader Pharmacy called to say that their board voted to make a $20,000 contribution, which brings the overall Leader contribution to over $35,000. Linda Baker of United Drugs is making calls to individuals and contacting other organizations about contributions as well. Thanks to everyone for your help! This allows CPhA staff and leadership to spend our time on the work that needs to be done to stop the cuts.
Board of Pharmacy Meeting
On Wednesday, Kathy Lynch and Paige Talley attended the Board of Pharmacy meeting in Sacramento. Amongst the many issues, the Enforcement Committee spoke to the ePedigree implementation and the Legislative Committee to the Board's sponsored bill SB 1307 (electronic pedigree requirements) and various other bills the Board is watching throughout this Legislative Session.
The update from the Licensing Committee included a vote by the Board to withdraw the current proposed compounding regulations and commence a new rulemaking process related to these regulations. The Board will be releasing the new proposed regulations for a 45-day comment period. The Board plans to take action on the Compounding Regulations at the next full Board meeting in July. We will keep you informed as to when the new proposed regulations are released to commence the comment period.
Lucy Saldana from CMS gave a special presentation on the DMEPOS (durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies) Competitive Bidding Program. Dr. Saldana stressed the goals of the program are to lower the cost for the Medicare program and Medicare recipients, improve supplies and reduce waste, fraud and abuse. Riverside, San Bernardino and Ontario are included in the first round of the Competitive Bidding Program, rolling out on July 1, 2008. Dr. Saldana stressed that while Part B Accreditation is a separate process from the competitive bidding, any provider of DMEPOS must be accredited in order to bill Medicare for durable medical supplies. For more information visit www.dmecompetitivebid.com.
State Board of Pharmacy Newly Elected Officers
We would like to congratulate the new officers of the California State Board of Pharmacy: President - Ken Schell, Vice President - Tim Dazé and Treasurer - Stan Weisser. We look forward to our continued work with the Board on all of the issues facing the pharmacy profession.
Pacific Alumni Association Faculty Mentor Award
This Saturday, the Pacific Alumni Association is presenting awards to recognize outstanding faculty who have mentored students and alumni through their personal professional relationships. This year's winners include Carol Ann Hackley, PhD, David Keefe, PhD and our very own Ed Sherman, PharmD, of the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Ed is a long time CPhA member and currently is the Region 2 Trustee of the CPhA Board of Trustees. We are well aware of Ed's great dedication to his students and we offer him hearty congratulations.
Student Summit
The 3rd Annual CPhA Student and New Practitioner Summit begins this evening in San Diego with a welcoming reception for all participants. An invitation has been extended to all members of the San Diego local association. The Summit will continue over the weekend with great programming on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., we will hold the wine tasting course and reception, which will also include members of the San Diego local association. It promises to be a great event again this year and we thank all of our very generous sponsors who made this possible.
Outlook Update
The final numbers are in for Outlook 2008. As we reported before, it was an outstanding event and all the numbers increased over 2007. The event was solidly in the black and will contribute positively to CPhA this year. We are looking forward to Outlook 2009 at Disneyland next February and are planning the 2010 event as we speak. We hope to sign a contract with Long Beach for that conference. We'll keep you posted with dates and information as soon as they are available.
AMP Lawsuit
Earlier this week, NACDS and NCPA submitted an amended complaint regarding the AMP lawsuit that was filed in November 2007 against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). You can read the news release by visiting:
http://www.nacds.org/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5767.
Save the Date - Californians for Patient Care (CPC) Community Event
We have an important opportunity for California pharmacists to tell their story regarding the upcoming Medi-Cal cuts and the tragedies that will result. On Friday, May 2, 2008, CPC will be hosting a free luncheon to discuss free healthcare resources available to Californians, how the 2008 budget cuts will impact healthcare, as well as patient advocacy. The luncheon will feature the following speakers:
Karen Bass, California State Assembly Majority Leader and Speaker-Elect will discuss the Governor's 2008 healthcare budget cuts.
Elizabeth Helms, TMJ and Orofacial Pain Society of America Founder and Patient Advocate will talk about Patient Advocacy.
Maria Robles, RN, CPC Executive Director will review free healthcare resources in your community.
The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Community Coalition, located at 8101 S. Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles. For more information on this event or to request to attend, please email Sharon Phantha at sphantha@calpatientcare.org no later than April 28, 2008.
In the News
Gary Thomas, longtime CPhA member, announced that Land Park Leader Pharmacy is closing down after 53 years of business. You can read more about this in Bob Shallit's column in the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.
Responding to the shortage of pharmacists in California, a group backs a new pharmacy school in Fresno. You can read more about this in the Fresno Bee. Additionally, the Board and the advisory group for the new school met on April 24 from 6pm to 8pm to share their vision with all interested parties. Paul Rohrer was in attendance representing CPhA and said that it was a very informative meeting. We'll provide more information about this proposed new school and its progress toward becoming reality.
CPhA member and Marin County Pharmacists Association education chairman Fred Mayer was included in a San Francisco Chronicle article regarding the drug take program that they started in 2004. To read the article, click here.
University of Southern California launches nation's first doctoral program in regulatory science to meet a pressing need for safer products. To read the news release, click here.
Question of the Week
Dear Lynn,
I have heard that the Medi-Cal checkwrite planned for June 19 will be delayed until July 2, 2008. Can you give me the details as to how this will work and whether the delay will be permanent or whether the payments will catch up to schedule? I need to do some planning.
Thank you,
Gary Huber
Rols Delhi Drug
Delhi, California
Answer
Dear Gary,
We contacted Kevin Gorospe, Chief, Pharmacy Policy Branch, Medi-Cal Pharmacy Benefits Division, Department of Health Care Services. Here is his answer:
"This is my understanding of how it will work. Currently there are three checkwrites on the schedule for June 2008: 5th, 12th, and 19th. The 6/19 check is the one that will be delayed to July. The 6/5 check includes claims for the week ending 5/23 and the 6/12 check includes claims for the week ending 5/30. With the delay, the next check will be July 2. The 7/2 check will include claims for the weeks ending 6/6, 6/13 and 6/20. Then the schedule resumes, with a check on 7/10 for claims in the week ending 6/27."
Thanks for the question.
Sincerely,
Lynn Rolston
Chief Executive Officer