More Minnesota communities could lose their pharmacies if legislators do not restore Medicaid reimbursement rates to 2009 levels.
That’s according to representatives of the Minnesota Pharmacists Association, who testified before the House Health Care and Human Services Finance Division March 18. According to Executive Director Julie Johnson, while the Legislature has decreased reimbursement rates to pharmacies numerous times over the past several years, the biggest blow came last September, when the settlement of a federal lawsuit resulted in changes to funding formulas used nationwide. The local effect was a further reduction in the reimbursement pharmacies receive from the Department of Human Services.
“We’re not asking for an increase in what the state pays us,” Johnson said. “We’re asking that the state do the right thing and maintain reimbursement as it was prior to the benchmark changes that occurred industry-wide.”
Their request takes the form of
HF3266, which would modify the Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement rate to offset any reduction in payment as a result of the federal lawsuit. Sponsored by Rep. Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul), the bill was held over for possible inclusion in a division omnibus bill. Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon (DFL-Duluth) sponsors a companion,
SF3146, which awaits action by the Senate Health and Human Services Budget Division.
Many pharmacies around the state are already struggling. For every Medicaid prescription that a pharmacy fills, it must fill two and a half additional prescriptions to break even, said Jeff Lindoo, a pharmacist who spoke on behalf of the pharmacy community.
It’s to the point where some pharmacies will not fill Medicaid prescriptions. In April, Walgreens intends to stop accepting new Medicaid patients in Washington state, where rates are actually better than in Minnesota, Johnson said.
She is concerned failure to reinstate previous reimbursement rates will lead more pharmacies to close. Seventy-six Minnesota pharmacies closed in 2009; about one-third were located in rural communities. These losses are detrimental, as patients lose vital access to appropriate health care, Johnson said.
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