Content about Healthcare reform in the United States

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association on Wednesday offered federal Medicaid officials a number of suggestions to address methodology that, if left in place, would result in what the NCPA couched as "potentially devastating cuts" in Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement for a wide range of common, generic prescription drugs.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — To date, Walgreens and Express Scripts in the past month have navigated three one-off deals that will keep Walgreens' more than 7,800 pharmacies in the ESI pharmacy network, but the U.S. Department of Defense's Tricare does not look likely to become one-off deal No. 4, according to published reports.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — In an effort to continue serving the U.S. Department of Defense's Tricare pharmacy program in 2012, Walgreens has offered a new proposal to Express Scripts.

In what it calls "an ironclad guarantee," Walgreens said that the drug store chain's prices would match or beat the average costs per adjusted prescription of all other pharmacies in the Tricare network. Walgreens added that it will produce savings for the program "without disrupting beneficiaries’ choice of a network pharmacy provider."

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid said its pharmacists will be ready to help patients and caregivers choose the prescription drug plan that works best for them as 2012 Medicare Part D open enrollment begins Saturday.

Open enrollment is beginning a month earlier than in previous years so that Medicare administrators can process plan choices before the new year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association is recommending several ways for reducing Medicare Part D fraud, waste and abuse to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs subcommittee, the group said Tuesday.

HARTFORD, Conn. — CVS/pharmacy has teamed up with Aetna to offer Medicare beneficiaries a co-branded prescription drug plan.

The companies said the new Aetna CVS/pharmacy Prescription Drug Plan will be made available to beneficiaries in 43 states and Washington, D.C. The plan offers a $26 monthly plan premium and has no deductible for generic drugs. In addition, members will have the following benefits when they fill their prescriptions at a CVS/pharmacy (compared with a nonpreferred network pharmacy):

WASHINGTON — A congressman from Texas is urging the Department of Health and Human Services to reject an attempt by the Texas state government to move millions of Medicaid prescription drug beneficiaries into managed care plans.

Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett, head of the Texas Democratic Congressional Delegation, said the move would harm small pharmacies that cater to Medicaid beneficiaries and leave many patients without access to pharmacy services by reducing pharmacy dispensing fees to far below the average pharmacy's cost of dispensing each prescription.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A value-based benefits project saved a group of employers in Kansas City, Mo., nearly $11 million in direct healthcare costs.

The Kansas City Collaborative, or KC2, launched a project focused on giving employees and their dependents access to better health information, reducing barriers to preventive care, engaging them in reducing health risks and accessing earlier treatment of chronic disease. Led by the Mid-America Coalition on Health Care, the project included 15 local employers and about 400,000 area employees and their dependents.

While it has been a boon to elderly Americans, Medicare Part D includes a complicating factor that has proven to be a headache.


Despite its seemingly charming name, the doughnut hole has proven to be a headache for many seniors. Also known as the Medicare Part D coverage gap, the doughnut hole is when drug costs reach a point when the patient becomes responsible for the entire cost, and Medicare doesn’t pay for them again until they reach the catastrophic-coverage threshold. The hole and threshold change from year to year.


ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association on Monday urged the federal government to reject Florida’s request to extend and expand its Medicaid managed care pilot program statewide from five to 67 counties.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The other side of the retail clinic phenomenon is urgent care, which also is growing as the need for alternative sites of care becomes more apparent, and providers look to fill the gaps in health care. This is why it is important to note the news of Solantic’s expansion plans.

(THE NEWS: Solantic announces statewide hiring. For the full story, click here)