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Medi-Cal Pharmacy Recoupments Partially Dropped
Governor Jerry Brown's 2014 state budget included a significant shift in regards to the retroactive recoupment portion of the AB97 Medi-Cal pharmacy provider cuts. Read more...
Blue Shield Premium Hike 'Unreasonable'
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has deemed a 10% rate increase by Blue Shield of California to be excessive, saying that a 4% rate hike would be more acceptable. Read more...
Call for Candidates: We Want You!
The California Pharmacists Association Election Committee is seeking candidates for open positions on the CPhA Board of Trustees and the Academy Board of Directors. More info...
Ron Piervincenzi Named USP CEO
The Board of Trustees of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) today announced that Ron Piervincenzi, Ph.D. will become the Chief Executive Officer of USP and chair of USP's standards-setting body, the Council of Experts. Piervincenzi will assume these responsibilities February 1, 2014. Read more...
Proposed Changes for Medicare Advantage
CMS issued a proposed rule with comment period that would strengthen protections, improve health care quality and reduce costs for Medicare beneficiaries with private Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D prescription drug plans in Contract Year (CY) 2015. Read more...
Calif. Not Meeting Kids' Health Care Needs
A report by Children Now finds that California is not adequately meeting the health, education and welfare needs of children in the state. Read more...
Baxter Recall: CLINIMIX and CLINIMIX E Injection
Baxter International and FDA notified health professionals and their medical care organizations of a recall in the United States of two lots of CLINIMIX and one lot of CLINIMIX E Injection parenteral nutrition products due to complaints of particulate matter found in the products. Read more...
ACA Payment Deadline Extended
After a spike in enrollment last month, Covered California has extended the deadline for consumers to pay their first month's premium. Read more...
Ordinance Pushes for Pharma to Pay for Disposal
Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley has proposed a county ordinance that would require drugmakers to design and pay for a comprehensive prescription drug disposal program. Read more...
CMS Requests Input on Exchange Issues
As the 2014 plan year begins under the ACA insurance exchanges, please let CPhA know if you are experiencing systemic problems with any of the plans participating in the exchange (e.g. they haven't issued cards, their cards are printed with incorrect information, claims are not processing). CMS has established a dedicated process to try to address systemic plan issues. Please provide CPhA as much (non PHI) information as possible (name of plan, BIN/PCN if available, problem identified). CPhA is working with the national pharmacy organizations and will forward this information when received. Please note that individual coverage issues should be addressed with individual plans. Send a description of the issues to bwarren@cpha.com.
Reminder: New Limits for Acetaminophen
As of January 14, 2014, manufacturers must limit the amount of acetaminophen in their oral prescription drug products to 325 mg per dosage unit. Read more...
Coming Soon: CPhA Conducting Health IT Survey
There is a growing movement in the United States to accelerate the adoption of Health IT in the delivery of healthcare services to improve patient safety, reduce costs, and reporting of clinical outcomes. This survey will help identify the extent to which independent pharmacies in California utilize Health IT. Be on the lookout for more information on how to participate in this important survey!
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