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On Feb. 18, CHA testified at the Board of Pharmacy Enforcement and Compounding Committee about member concerns on recent specialty pharmacy payer changes. These policy changes disrupt the traditional buy-and-bill method, where hospitals buy and store specialty drugs for general use and bill payers for the dose used when administered to the patient.
The policy change requires the payers to reimburse the third-party specialty pharmacies, which then distribute medications to hospitals. This change poses risks to patient safety and quality by disregarding many medication safety guardrails in the medication administration and handling process.
CHA has submitted a formal letter to the Department of Managed Health Care and asked the Board of Pharmacy for its position on the “white bagging” policies. Nine organizations testified; the presentations are available at the BoP website. The board will review the information provided, review regulatory conflicts offered by CHA, and report back at its April 30 board meeting.
