According to the Medical Society for the State of New York (MSSNY) www.mssny.org February 2017 newsletter, their staff has been reviewing Governor Cuomo’s 2017-2018 budget documents totals funding for $152.3 billion. However, the staff has are some concerns related to pharmaceutical issues.
According to the proposed budget, “Prescriber prevails” protections that currently exist in Medicaid and Medicaid Managed Care would be eliminated, except for atypical antipsychotic and anti-depressant medications. The concern is that by eliminating these protections, physicians will be forced to go through even more burdensome prior authorization requirements.
The budget would permit pharmacists to enter into comprehensive medication management protocols with physicians and with nurse practitioners to manage and adjust the medications of patients with chronic diseases or other diseases that are at risk for hospitalization. While similar collaborative drug therapy programs exist within the hospital environment, only physicians are currently permitted to enter into such protocols.
MSSNY also advocates that pharmacies that to not have a particular medication in stock be able to electronically transmit the prescription to another pharmacy which would enable patients to comparison shop among pharmacies. MSSNY is also going to assure that the prescription drug monitoring registry is interoperable with all e-prescribing systems so that the Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) registry is streamlined.