The Executive council yesterday approved a regional drug-purchasing contract that could save the state millions of dollars in Medicaid related prescription drug costs. As state officials hail the first of its kind program as a triumph, local pharmacists worry it could harm their bottom lines.
Under the four-year contract, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont will pool resources to buy pharmaceuticals for Medicaid recipients. Governor Jeanne Shaheen estimates the state’s outlay of 7.5 million dollars will accomplish two goals all New Hampshirites should applaud.
One it will save us 11 million dollars in the first year, and 35 million dollars over the four-year period. But secondly and more importantly, we believe it will get us better outcomes for people on Medicaid by having a pharmacy benefits manager.
The position of pharmacy benefits manager will be filled by an employee of the First Health Services Corporation of Virginia. The managers duty will be as if he or she toiling for an HMO: shop around for the kind of deals only economies of scale can leverage. While state officials say the plan has been in the works for several years and has profited from the advice of concerned parties throughout the healthcare industry, David Minnis, Lobbyist for the state pharmacy association says local druggists got their say too little to late.
Believe me, we did not see this contract until Monday morning…So we had exactly four hours to go through it and point out the areas that were problematic.
While Minnis admits the state was receptive to certain concerns, such as the associations opposition to mail order pharmacies. He says neither the governor, nor Heath and human services commissioner Donald Shumway showed much flexibility when it came to acknowledging what Minnis says the new purchasing pool will mean for local druggists.
The contract is going to require additional work for the pharmacist, for which the pharmacist will not receive compensation……We met with the commissioner and basically told him we have a problem with this area.
Minnis criticizes the plan because it may cause pharmacists to routinely deny Medicaid recipients is not on the state’s list of bulk purchased drugs. But Commissioner Shumway says such concerns are overblown….noting that the pools policies will be overseen by a what’s known as a “therapeutic board,” a body made up of local doctors, nurses and druggists. He says that body is charged with protecting all relevant stakeholders – including pharmacists. And while Shumway admits the new regional purchasing pool won’t likely quiet state pharmacists oft heard complaint that Medicaid is a synonym for clerical headaches and insufficient reimbursement. He assures the new plan won’t make their chronic dyspepsia any more acute.
We cover both the cost of the medication and the dispensing of that medication, the actual labor that goes on for each medication prescription….,and will continue to do so at out current rates.
The purchasing pool will begin operation in November.
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