Community pharmacies kept up the pressure Monday to make sure they don’t get left out of Florida’s planned Medicaid managed-care system.
Pharmacy officials held a news conference outside the Economy Drug Store in Tallahassee and reiterated concerns that HMOs and other managed-care plans will rely heavily on mail-order drugs in the new system.
The news conference came two weeks before the state Agency for Health Care Administration is required to submit a detailed proposal for the managed-care system to the federal government.
Community pharmacy officials have met with AHCA to discuss the concerns and also turned out supporters for a series of Medicaid public hearings last month.
Michael Jackson, executive vice president of the Florida Pharmacy Association, said he hopes the state will include “common sense” policies in the Medicaid plan.
But lawmakers largely did not take a stance on whether managed-care plans should use mail order to fill prescriptions — or whether they should use mom-and-pop pharmacies.
“We do believe the agency has some flexibility in how it’s designed,” Jackson said.
Republican lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott want to move to a statewide managed-care system by October 2014. They contend the move would help hold down Medicaid costs and improve care for beneficiaries.
Rep. Rob Schenck, a Spring Hill Republican who sponsored the Medicaid overhaul, issued a statement saying managed-care plans will not be able to exclusively use mail order drugs. He also criticized the community pharmacies for holding the news conference.
“To summarize: We heard the concerns. We addressed the concerns and the bill speaks for itself,” Schenck said. “People need to read the bill before planning press stunts designed to spread fear, misinformation and lies.”
