Content about American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Since the turn of the 21st century, community pharmacy and its technology allies have waged a long fight to shift the nation’s fractious healthcare system to a common communications and record-keeping platform via electronic prescribing and information technology. Those efforts -- led by such companies as Surescripts, the pharmacy industry-founded e-prescribing network -- have made progress.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT In these times of trillion-dollar spending bills and massive deficits, $16 billion may not seem like all that much. But it’s enough to throw another critical lifeline to states coping with the ever-rising costs of Medicaid health assistance to the poor and unemployed –– and to thousands of community pharmacies that have to provide prescription services to those millions of Americans.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. The Senate has passed a measure to extend the federal funding level for state Medicaid programs.

The Senate voted 61-39 for the bill, pushed by the retail pharmacy lobby and an extension of the higher federal medical assistance percentage that was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The House will vote on the measure next week, and both houses must pass the bill in identical form before it goes to president Obama’s desk.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Simply put, if you take a significant number of retail pharmacies out of the Medicaid equation, it won’t be too long before overall healthcare expenditures begin skyrocketing.

(THE NEWS: Representing NACDS, Civello asks Obama to maintain emergency Medicaid funding. For the full story, click here)