Content about Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

Remember back in 2009, when some on Wall Street swore the sky was falling as Caremark came off a tricky selling season? Oh, how times have changed.


“Everything we’ve seen this year demonstrates that CVS is a stable company that is well-positioned to take advantage of growth opportunities in the industry,” stated Barclays Capital analyst Meredith Adler in a recent research note.


There is no doubt about it. Pharmacy audits can be time consuming and laborious for all parties involved. And as both government and commercial money gets tighter and tighter, all of health care is searching for the most effective means to manage the financial challenges associated with doing business. In addition to the clinical aspects, audits are used to identify genuinely fraudulent or erroneously paid healthcare claims.

Will Congress rip away the ability of independent and small chain pharmacies to sell diabetic supplies and durable medical equipment to Medicare patients?

That's the essential question being debated by the U.S. House Small Business Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology. The congressional panel is mulling a proposal from some lawmakers to exempt smaller pharmacy operators — defined as those with 10 or fewer locations — from the new Medicare competitive bidding program.

As states grapple with tight budgets, rising Medicaid costs and the anticipated expansion of Medicaid following the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, policy-makers should consider how community pharmacists can help reduce expenses. In addition, new evidence offers a fresh reminder of the perils of managed care in Medicaid and the need for proper oversight of managed care entities.

NEW YORK — Beginning this month, South Carolina is allowing retail-based health clinics to enroll as providers in Medicaid, a move that will enable Medicaid patients to use clinics for wellness visits, preventive services and to treat acute ailments, according to a local news report.

According to The Post and Courier, South Carolina Medicaid director Tony Keck said the move is designed to expand access to care and keep those patients with basic health issues from using high-cost emergency departments.

BOSTON — A new study from Harvard School of Public Health found that expanding Medicaid to low-income adults led to improved health and reduced mortality. It is the first published study to look specifically at the effect of recent state Medicaid expansions on mortality among low-income adults.

WASHINGTON — While the Supreme Court on Thursday morning left the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act mostly intact, the court did rule that Congress cannot withhold federal Medicaid spending from a state that does not expand its eligibility requirements under the act.

Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid was to be transformed into a program to meet the healthcare needs of the entire nonelderly population with income below 133% of the poverty level.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Ohio's Medicaid program has decided not to establish a competitive bidding and mandatory mail-order program for diabetes testing supplies.

How do you squeeze water from a stone? That seems to be the goal of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in its long quest to cut prescription reimbursements for Medicaid patients by setting new, tighter payment caps for the community pharmacies that dispense those medicines.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Supreme Court has sent a lawsuit challenging cuts to California's Medicaid program back to a lower court.

The high court ruled 5-4 in the case of Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California that healthcare providers could challenge Medicaid reimbursement cuts under the U.S. Constitution's supremacy clause. The decision returns the case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had originally ruled that the providers had standing to sue.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association is calling for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to allow senior patients to enroll in a new Medicare Part D prescription drug plan via a special enrollment period, particularly if patients believe that "material misrepresentations" led them to sign up for a "preferred network" plan with inadequate pharmacy access.