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Texas Pharmacy Business Council is an organization of
American Pharmacies and the Academy of Independent Pharmacists-Texas.
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 TDI pharmacy
help
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The Texas Department of Insurance has a Pharmacist
Resource Page that includes links to complaint forms and advises when
the next Pharmacy Outreach Conference Call will be held.
Add this link to your online
"favorites" list.
Save this link for complaints about
discount health care operators.
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2009 Texas legislation
successes
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Regulation of Rx discount cards
PBM transparency in state contracts
Mail order parity
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State Board of
Pharmacy urged to create pharmacy advisory board
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Rather than waiting for the comment period post
publication in the Texas Register, we are asking the Texas State
Board of Pharmacy to create an advisory panel to help write the rules
affecting community pharmacy. We also requested this topic be added
to the agenda for the next TSBP board meeting.
I sent a letter Wednesday to TSBP President
Jeanne D. Waggener, RPh, noting the successes of previous panels and
task forces and urging creation of such a panel for Class A licensed
pharmacies. We suggest that the advisory panel be comprised of six
licensed Class A community pharmacists in good standing, as well as
two Texas Pharmacy Business Council board members plus appropriate
Council staff.
It is our expectation that such a partnership and alliance between
the community pharmacy profession and the TSBP via this advisory panel
ultimately will result in a significantly more efficient and less
adversarial rule-making process. It also will benefit the patients we
serve.
Stay tuned!
Richard E. Beck, RPh
Executive Director, Texas Pharmacy Business Council
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Test revised
Vendor Drug specifications
beginning Friday
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The revised Vendor Drug Payer Specification Sheets are
now available for changes that go into effect Monday, August 23.
Pharmacies must communicate these changes to their switch company and
software vendor as soon as possible, and submit test claims to ensure
the software is set up properly. Tests can be submitted beginning
Friday and continuing through Aug. 22. All changes go live Aug. 23.
Pharmacies will continue to use the National Council for Prescription
Drug Programs version 5.1 software format for all billing (B1),
reversal (B2), and eligibility verification (E1) transactions for
Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program, Children with Special
Health Care Needs Services Program, and Kidney Health Care program
claims.
Test claim information, pharmacy provider training opportunities, and
other education materials also are available at the Vendor Drug Program website.
Contact the TMHP-Pharmacy assistance line 24/7 at 877-350-2171 with
any questions, including NCPDP error code 99 (Host Processing Error).
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DEA weighing
changes to "nurse-as-agent" policy in LTCFs
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The Drug Enforcement Administration is seeking comments
from pharmacists, nurses, and others involved with long-term care
facilities on possibly revising its controlled substances policies to
better accommodate LTCF residents. Specifically, the DEA is asking if
certain persons at LTCFs are designated as prescribers' agents
"to communicate controlled substance information from the
individual practitioner to the pharmacy, how would this change
current practices at your facility for obtaining controlled substance
medications for residents? What safeguards should be required?"
DEA's recent re-interpretation of the long-standing
"nurse-as-agent" practice has meant that physicians must
contact pharmacists directly when a change in a controlled substance
pain medication is necessary. Because the pharmacist always needs a
hard copy or faxed prescription for C-IIs and the nurse is not
allowed to communicate the physician's orders with the pharmacist
directly, the pharmacist is forced to track the physician down to get
a faxed copy of the prescription.
The National Community Pharmacists Association believes this puts
pharmacists in a precarious position in which they are "reduced
to threatening prescribers with DEA notification for noncompliance.
On one hand, pharmacists risk damaging vital collaborative
relationships if they report a physician to the DEA for failing to
write the required prescriptions; on the other, they risk losing
their right to practice pharmacy if they don't report noncompliant
prescribers."
NCPA has recommended that DEA immediately suspend further actions
against pharmacies trying to balance the ethical and legal dilemma of
not filling a prescription for a resident in pain and violating
practice standards or violating DEA's new interpretation of the CSA.
 NCPA requests pharmacists with views on this
issue to send them to info@ncpanet.org and put LTC in the subject line. Read DEA's June 29 Federal Register
Notice here.
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Walgreens and CVS
Caremark reach agreement |
We don't know who blinked first--everyone has
a different opinion about it. Here is what the National
Association of Community Pharmacists said about
the settlement. What's the lesson from all
this? It reinforces the need for independent
community pharmacists to have the right to
business negotiations. Walgreens may be a single
company negotiating with another single company,
but their sheer size means CVS Caremark had to
take Walgreens' actions seriously. That kind of
clout can't be overestimated. The National
Community Pharmacists Association was instrumental
in getting a bill introduced in Washington this
past session that would have granted the right to
negotiate as a group and it was introduced in the
health care reform bill, but HR 971 didn't make it
to the floor and the language was left out of the
health care reform bill. Are we
disappointed? Yes. Are we discouraged? NO!! This
is the kind of battle we'll continue to
fight. |
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Texas
Pharmacy Business Council
Ensuring patient access to
quality pharmacy care services,
the viability of
community pharmacy and the pharmacy
profession.
1001
Congress Ave., Suite 250, Austin, TX 78701
512.992.1219
Richard
E. Beck,
RPh, Executive Director
www.TxRxCouncil.org | | |
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