Content about Medicaid

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Launching a pre-emptive campaign to capture a major share of the Medicare prescription market, Walmart and Humana have unveiled a boldly conceived, co-branded Medicare Part D prescription drug plan that offers steeply discounted premiums and co-payments.

(THE NEWS: Walmart, Humana unveil new Medicare Part D prescription drug offering. For the full story, click here)

WASHINGTON More money is flowing from the federal stimulus coffers to states as the White House continues its push to drive the healthcare system’s massive transformation to a digital and information technology-based platform.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. A new study released Wednesday by the American Lung Association, and conducted by researchers at Penn State University, found that helping smokers quit not only saves lives but also offers favorable economic benefits to California and the nation.

“Smoking Cessation: The Economic Benefits” provides a nationwide cost-benefit analysis that compares the societal costs of smoking with the economic benefits of states providing cessation coverage.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT It’s about time.

(THE NEWS: NACDS, NCPA in joint statement praise CMS' move to withdraw provisions of AMP rule currently blocked by injunction. For the full story, click here)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. National Association of Chain Drug Stores president and CEO Steve Anderson and National Community Pharmacists Association acting EVP and CEO Douglas Hoey issued a statement praising the proposed rule by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that would withdraw existing provisions of the Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement formula under the average manufacturer price model.

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.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Once again, the Democratic Party and the Obama administration are taking point on a relief plan for long-term or recently unemployed and underemployed Americans hit hard by the recession and the still-dismal job market. But their efforts to extend the program that provides additional emergency Medicaid funding to the states could provide additional relief to pharmacies that serve Medicaid patients, too.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The evidence keeps piling up.

(THE NEWS: Pharmacist-patient relationships improve health, lower costs of care, UNC-Kerr study reveals. For the full story, click here)

Community pharmacy has demonstrated, over and over, and with remarkable consistency, that retail pharmacists bring real value to the healthcare system.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores is moving quickly to establish a working relationship with newly installed Medicare and Medicaid chief Donald Berwick.

NACDS on Wednesday sent a letter to Berwick, who was tapped by President Obama to serve as the new administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. NACDS president and CEO Steve Anderson urged continued collaboration with CMS on issues related to pharmacy that he said are vital to quality health care and cost reduction.