On July 15th, Congress overrode the President's veto of HR 6331, the "MEDICARE IMPROVEMENTS FOR PATIENTS AND PROVIDERS ACT OF 2008". This bill had seen a lot of action in just a short period of time since it was introduced into the House on June 20th, 2008 and redrafted 4 times in which to pass both Senate and House by July 10th only to have the President veto the bill on July 15th. Later that day, both the House and the Senate overrode the veto with 2/3rd majority. This was a major victory for pharmacy!
With this bill as law, Physicians will actually get a 0.5% increase rather than a 10.6% decrease in reimbursement that was retroactive back to July 1, 2008.
For Pharmacy:
1. Requiring a 14-day reimbursement cycle for electronic Medicare Part D claims. Unfortunately this provision of the bill doesn't go into effect until 1/1/2010.
2. A further delay to Oct. 1, 2009 in instituting AMP-based Medicaid generic drug reimbursement cuts.
3. Postponement of the Medicare DME competitive bidding program for 18 to 24 months. CMS has clarified this as a postponement on implementation of Competitive Bidding Round 1, and a cancellation of accreditation deadlines for Competitive Bidding Round 2. CMS also clarifies that the deadline of September 30, 2009 that was previously established by which ALL DMEPOS suppliers must be accredited is still in effect.
The DME Competitive Bidding areas for Round 1 now are NOT subject to implementation: (1) Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC, (2) Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN, (3) Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH, (4) Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, (5) Kansas City, MO-KS, (6) Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, FL, (7) Orlando-Kissimmee, FL, (8) Pittsburgh, PA, (9) Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA, and (10) San Juan, PR.
The votes were 383-41 in the House and 70 to 26 in the Senate, meeting the constitutional requirement for two-thirds margins to enact legislation without the president's signature. "The passage of this bill will guarantee community pharmacies the ability to help millions of patients and to compete on a level playing field," said Bruce T. Roberts, RPh, NCPA executive vice president and CEO.
Please thank your Representatives.all of them were for passage of HR 6331 and they got the job done.this wasn't any easy task! Use this link for their contact information: www.grizrph.com/repcontact.htm
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This is a good thing, and a lot of hard work by our Montana pharmacists! Don't relax, though, the battle will rage on against the insurance PBM's and Medicare industries in their quest to put you out of business! Stay involved...don't just count on our activist members to pull all the weight.
Get involved, stay the course.
Dale Stoverud
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