NCPA submitted written testimony Monday during the Health Information Technology Policy Committee Information Exchange Workgroup in Washington DC. With the help of personal testimony of Baeteena Black, DPh, Executive Director of the Tennessee Pharmacists Association and NASPA President, NCPA praised the potential of e-prescribing but offered suggestions to address many concerns independent pharmacies have with [...]
Archive for the ‘Pharmacy provisions’ Category
NCPA suggests e-prescribing changes in testimony
Posted in Advocacy, Pharmacy provisions, tagged e-prescribing, health care reform, Iowa pharmacy on January 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
There’s still time to advocate!
Posted in Advocacy, Pharmacy provisions, tagged health care reform, Iowa pharmacy on January 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
With the merger of the House and Senate health care bills in conference committee still upcoming, time remains to contact your representatives and senators and advocate for the role of pharmacists in any new health care system. Don’t forget that Iowa congressmen are uniquely positioned to affect the final form of health care, so follow [...]
Senate passes HCR; merger with House forthcoming
Posted in Advocacy, Legislation, Pharmacy provisions, tagged AMP, DMEPOS, health care reform, Iowa pharmacy, medication therapy management, MTM on January 7, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
On December 24th, the United States Senate passed their version of health care reform on party line, 60-39, vote. Now that both the House and Senate have passed their respective bills, a conference committee will meet so each chamber of Congress can vote on a merged health care reform bill. The final Senate bill included [...]
Senate health care bills merged; pharmacy provisions intact
Posted in Advocacy, Legislation, Pharmacy provisions, tagged Grassley, Harkin, health care reform, HELP, Iowa pharmacy, Senate Finance on November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The US Senate introduced their mash-up of the Senate Finance and Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pension (HELP) pieces of health care legislation this past Wednesday. The Congressional Budget Office stated the bill will cost $848 billion over 10 years and will provide coverage to an additional 31 million Americans. It is said to also [...]
House passes HCR bill, pharmacy provisions survive
Posted in Legislation, Pharmacy provisions, tagged Boswell, Braley, health care reform, Iowa pharmacy, Loebsack on November 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The U.S. House of Representatives passed major Health Care Reform legislation Saturday night- including key pharmacy provisions. The bill passed 220-215. Iowa’s Congressional Delegation voted along party lines on the passage of the legislation with Congressmen Boswell, Braley, and Loebsack in favor and Congressmen King and Latham opposing. H.R. 3692 The Affordable Health Care for [...]
House HCR vote tomorrow; bill more MTM-friendly
Posted in Legislation, Pharmacy provisions, tagged health care reform, Iowa pharmacy, medication therapy management, MTM on November 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The US House of Representatives is set to vote on HR 3962 – The Affordable Health Care for America Act – this Saturday night, November 7. A great pro-pharmacy inclusion has been made by Congressman John Dingell (D-MI), which would provide much greater access to pharmacist-delivered MTM services. The provision would provide grants to entities [...]
Health care reform will slowly close doughnut hole
Posted in Pharmacy provisions, tagged coverage gap, donut hole, doughnut hole, health care reform, Iowa pharmacy on October 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It was reported last Friday that Speaker Nancy Pelosi intends for impending health care reform legislation to eliminate the coverage gap, or “doughnut hole,” that exists in Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. She stated the doughnut hole should be a thing of the past by 2019. The immediate impact on the coverage gap by [...]
Sen. Finance passes bill; onto merger with HELP
Posted in Legislation, Pharmacy provisions, tagged health care reform, Iowa pharmacy, Senate Finance on October 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee finally voted on their draft of health care reform legislation. The bill passed on a 14-9 vote, with all Democrats in addition to one lone Republican, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), voting in its favor. The Senate Finance Committee must now merge its legislation with the more liberal piece of [...]
DMEPOS accreditation deadline extension passed by Senate
Posted in Legislation, Pharmacy provisions, tagged accreditation, Braley, DME, DMEPOS, Grassley, Harkin, health care reform, HR 3663, Iowa pharmacy on October 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Last week the U.S. Senate failed to pass a bill, HR 3663, before October 1 which would have extended the DMEPOS accreditation deadline to January 1, 2010. They came through this week by voting it out of the Senate Monday. The bill was presented to President Obama on Wednesday for signing. This temporary fix will [...]
DMEPOS extension update – IMPORTANT
Posted in General, Pharmacy provisions, tagged accreditation, DME, DMEPOS, Iowa pharmacy on October 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
As we reported a couple of days ago, the US House and Senate have been in the process of passing an extension for DME accreditation for pharmacies that would push the deadline back to 1/1/10. The House passed the extension, but the Senate HAS NOT passed the extension, despite expectations they would do so yesterday. [...]
