Medi-Cal: pharmacist services.

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law provides for a schedule of benefits covered by the Medi-Cal program, including the purchase of prescribed drugs subject to the Medi-Cal list of contract drugs and utilization controls. Existing law requires a pharmacy provider under the Medi-Cal program to submit his or her usual and customary charge, as defined, when billing the Medi-Cal program for prescribed drugs. The Pharmacy Law specifies the functions a pharmacist is authorized to perform, including furnishing nicotine replacement products and administering immunizations, as specified. This bill would add to the schedule of benefits pharmacist services, as specified, subject to department protocols and utilization controls. The bill would require the rate of reimbursement for pharmacist services to be at 85% of the fee schedule for physician services under the Medi-Cal program and would require the department to establish a fee schedule. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions by means of all-county letters, plan letters, plan or provider bulletins, or similar instructions, without taking regulatory action, until regulations are adopted, and would require the department to adopt those regulations by July 1, 2021. Commencing July 1, 2017, the bill would require the department to provide a status report to the Legislature on a semiannual basis until regulations have been adopted. The bill would require these provisions to be implemented only to the extent that federal financial participation is available and the necessary federal approvals are obtained. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.