Walgreens: no new Medicaid patients as of April 16

[Guest guest]

Pharmacies

that

continue to fill Medicaid prescriptions at the current state

reimbursement

rate are "at risk of putting themselves out of business altogether,"

 

 

Now what do

you suppose will happen to the

other pharmacies in Washington

state? Will they go out of business, too? Or will they just stop

serving

Medicaid patients? See what happens when you have govt. run health

care! The

costs go up, so they stop paying, so the patients lose out!!! PRAY for

the

defeat of this horrible healthcare bill. Jan

 

Walgreens:

no

new Medicaid patients as of April 16 | Seattle

Times Newspaper

 

 

Walgreens: no new Medicaid patients as of April 16

March 17, 2010

Walgreens will stop taking new Medicaid patients in Washington

state as of April 16, saying it

loses money filling their prescriptions.

By Janet I. Tu

Seattle Times staff reporter

 

Effective April 16, Walgreens drugstores across the state won't take

any new

Medicaid patients, saying that filling their prescriptions is a

money-losing

proposition — the latest development in an ongoing dispute over

Medicaid

reimbursement.

 

The company, which operates 121 stores in the state, will continue

filling

Medicaid prescriptions for current patients.

 

In a news release, Walgreens said its decision to not take new Medicaid

patients stemmed from a "continued reduction in reimbursement" under

the state's Medicaid program, which reimburses it at less than the

break-even

point for 95 percent of brand-name medications dispensed to Medicaid

patents.

 

Walgreens follows Bartell Drugs, which stopped taking new Medicaid

patients

last month at all 57 of its stores in Washington,

though it still fills Medicaid prescriptions for existing customers at

all but

15 of those stores.

 

Doug Porter, the state's director of Medicaid, said Medicaid recipients

should

be able to readily find another pharmacy because "we have many more

pharmacy providers in our network than we need" for the state's 1

million

Medicaid clients.

 

He said those who can't can contact the state's Medical Assistance

Customer Service Center

at 1-800-562-3022

for help in locating one.

 

Along with Walgreens and Bartell, the Ritzville Drug Company in Adams County

announced in November that it would stop participating in Medicaid.

 

Fred Meyer and Safeway said their pharmacies would continue to serve

existing

Medicaid patients and to take new ones, though both expressed concern

that the

reimbursement rate is too low for pharmacies to make a profit.

 

The amount private insurers and Medicaid pay pharmacies for

prescriptions isn't

the actual cost of those drugs but rather is based on what's called the

drug's

estimated average wholesale price. But that figure is more like the

sticker

price on a car than its actual wholesale cost.

 

Washington

was reimbursing pharmacies 86 percent of a drug's average wholesale

price until

July, when it began paying them just 84 percent. While pharmacies

weren't happy

about the reimbursement reduction, the Department of Social and Health

Services

said that move was expected to save the state about $10 million.

 

Then in September came another blow. The average wholesale price is

calculated

by a private company, which was accused in a Massachusetts lawsuit of

fraudulently

inflating its figures. The company did not admit wrongdoing but agreed

in a

court settlement to ratchet its figures down by about 4 percent.

 

That agreement took effect in September — and prompted a lawsuit by a

group of

pharmacies and trade associations that said Washington state didn't

follow

federal law in setting its reimbursement rate, and that that rate is

too low.

The lawsuit is pending.

 

"Washington

state Medicaid is now reimbursing pharmacies less than their cost of

participation," said Jeff Rochon, CEO of the Washington State Pharmacy

Association.

 

Pharmacies that continue to fill Medicaid prescriptions at the current

state

reimbursement rate are "at risk of putting themselves out of business

altogether," he said.