Legislative Update October 1, 2007
Author: Kathy Lynch
The Legislature is currently in a Special Session working on health care reform. We will keep you updated as substantive information becomes available. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at klynch@cpha.com or (916) 779-1400.
Thank you very much for your continued support!
Kathy
Tamper-Resistant Prescription Pads
As we sent out earlier today, below is the latest information on the Tamper Resistant Prescription Pad implementation.
OCTOBER 1st TAMPER RESISTANT PRESCRIPTION PAD
REQUIREMENT DELAYED FOR SIX MONTHS
The new federal law mandating that all written, non-electronic prescriptions for Medicaid outpatient drugs be executed on tamper-resistant prescription pads as of October 1, 2007, in order to receive reimbursement from the federal government has been delayed for six (6) months and will now be implemented on April 1, 2008.
Last week, both houses of Congress passed H.R. 3668, the "TMA, Abstinence Education, and QI Programs Extension Act of 2007”. H.R. 3668, among other things, extends the requirement for implementing the tamper-resistant prescription pads for 6 months. H.R. 3668 was signed by the President on Saturday.
Due to the unyielding efforts of national pharmacy organizations, nearly every state pharmacy association, along with the visits, calls, letters and e-mails to key Members of Congress by individual pharmacists nationwide, language to delay the tamper resistant prescription requirement was included in H.R. 3668 and after passing both houses of Congress was signed by the President.
This delay provides doctors and pharmacists with extra time to implement this requirement and hopefully avoid disruption of services to Medi-Cal patients. If you contacted your Representative or Senator regarding this issue, please take the time to thank them for taking action.
CPhA wants to give special credit to our state pharmacy association partners around the country. They were highly motivated and committed to getting this delay.
California DHS is still working on guidance documents, which we will forward out as soon as it is available. In the meantime, CPhA will work to answer any questions you have as quickly as possible. Please send your questions to Theresa Andrews at tandrews@cpha.com.
Medicare Part D
Beginning today, Medicare Part D Plans are able to market to patients for the upcoming enrollment period for 2008. Medicare's fall open enrollment is from November 15th to December 31, 2007. Now is the time for people with Medicare to enroll in a drug plan, review their health care and drug coverage, and make changes. For more information on open enrollment for Medicare Part D Plans, click here.
Federal Legislation on AMP
There is now a third bill in Congress to address the Medicaid cuts that are expected from using AMP as the base for generic drug reimbursement. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, has introduced H.R. 3700. H.R. 3700 is the House companion bill to S. 1951, The Fair Medicaid Drug Payment Act of 2007, which was introduced by Finance Committee chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. The other bill dealing with AMP is H.R. 3140. All three bills would set generic drug reimbursement based on community retail pharmacy acquisition costs and would exclude data from mail order pharmacies and others who receive discounts and rebates that are not available to community retail pharmacies. To read and track these three bills, visit: www.govtrack.us/.