Included in this newsletter
- Encourage Patients to Submit Complaints to Medicare
- APhA’s Immunization Champion Awards
- DSCSA Progress
- Compliance Portal® Ticketing System
- Be Careful with Medicare Part D 2025 Contracts
- 2023-2024 Influenza Report
- Change Healthcare Cyber-Attack
- Enforcement
- R.J. Hedges Bulletin Releases/Webinars/Podcasts
- New & Updated Policies & Procedures
- New & Updated Forms and Support Documents
- Meet our Staff- Erin
Encourage Patients to Submit Complaints to Medicare
Patients across the country are facing issues filling prescriptions due to patient steering and PBM network issues. Please encourage your patients to reach out to Medicare directly through their online complaint form or call Medicare directly. NCPA has prepared a printer-friendly document that you can hand to your patients at the pharmacy counter when they experience pharmacy access issues. Download the handout here.
APhA’s Immunization Champion Awards
Congratulations to Jonathan Marquess and the Marquess Group of Pharmacies in Woodstock, GA, for being recognized in the corporation category for the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Immunization Champion Awards. Their receipt of Honorable Mention highlights their dedication and contribution to promoting immunization efforts within their community. This recognition reflects their commitment to public health and their ongoing efforts to increase vaccination rates and improve access to immunization services. Well done to Jonathan Marquess and the entire team at Marquess Group of Pharmacies!
Curg Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) Progress
It seems like the DSCSA Interoperability Committee is making progress on the Transaction Information (TI) and Transaction Statement (TS) data transactions, with a target date set for full compliance for 100% of manufactured drugs. However, there are concerns regarding wholesalers capturing data with different systems, which could pose challenges.
It's encouraging that there are no concerns about meeting the November deadline. However, pharmacies need to start scanning DSCSA information into their software programs immediately. Even though November might seem distant given the current operational priorities, taking small steps now will make the process more manageable rather than trying to implement everything all at once as the deadline gets closer and occurs during the busy Medicare Patient Enrollment period.
It's estimated that approximately 20% of the barcodes are already in place and scannable, which is a good starting point. Starting the process now will help pharmacies gradually adapt to the requirements, ensuring smoother compliance by the deadline.
Compliance Portal® Ticketing System
The Compliance Portal® now offers a fully functional ticketing system accessible from both the home page and individual pages. To utilize this feature, follow these steps:
- Navigate to the "Ticket" option on the home page or individual pages.
- Click on "Create Ticket."
- Provide a title for the subject of your request.
- Describe the request in detail, such as "Personnel folder request" or "license update."
- Include any questions or additional information relevant to your request.
- If necessary, upload any relevant documents.
- Click on "Submit" to send the ticket directly to your Project Manager.
Once submitted, your ticket will go directly to your assigned Project Manager. You can also review your tickets at any time for updates or reference.
We encourage you to take advantage of this feature to streamline your interactions and ensure timely responses to your inquiries. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Be Careful with Medicare Part D 2025 Contracts
Some Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) may be offering new contracts for Medicare Part D 2025 plan year networks to individual pharmacies that are OPT-OUT contracts. They would impact the entire 2025 plan year and may require a pharmacy to notify the PBM in writing (via fax) in a short timeframe (as early as the end of April 2024) if you do not want to be enrolled. Read more ...
2023-2024 Influenza Report
The CDC is reporting Influenza cases are starting to fall. The CDC estimates that there have been at least 31 million illnesses, 350,000 hospitalizations, and 22,000 deaths from flu so far this season. More details...
Change Healthcare Cyber-Attack
The Change Healthcare cyberattack brought to light the deep vulnerabilities of our nation’s digital healthcare infrastructure, resulting in devastating patient care disruption, particularly at community and health system pharmacies across the country. The attack, and even more so the prolonged inability to restore service, severed the lifelines to patient coverage and reimbursement for needed medications. Patients, prescribers, and pharmacies were left in the dark, unsure about medication coverage or patient out-of-pocket costs. The outage also halted the transmission of electronic prescriptions and the processing of manufacturer discount cards. Even as reimbursement stopped flowing to pharmacies, theyendeavored to provide appropriate care and medication. However, in many cases, prescription dispensing was inevitably delayed. This chaos and uncertainty continued for over a month and the effects are still on going.
- Cyber-Attack Podcasts: Dreaded Reality of Ransomware in Pharmacies and Healthcare
Enforcement
- Man Sentenced for &87M Healthcare DME Faud Kickback Conspiracy
- False Claims Act Settlements and Judgements Exceed $2.68 Billion in Fiscal Year 2023
R.J. Hedges Bulletin Releases/Webinars
New and Updated Policies & Procedures
DMEPOS, Pharmacy, & Compounding-
- Organizational Structure
Compounding
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- Procedures and Documentation
- Procedures and Documentation
New and Updated Forms & Support Documents
DMEPOS, Pharmacy, & Compounding-
- Facility Personnel Designations
Meet our Staff- Erin Smay
Meet Erin! She is our newest addition to the R.J. Hedges & Associates family! Erin is a Project Manager in training and has been learning our programs and processes. In the future she will be supporting clients but as she continues to grow in her knowledge, she is supporting the Project Manager team.
Erin has been a great addition to the company and says “it has been a great change in my work career and I love that I am able to be at home with Jase.”
When away from work, Erin loves to spend time outside in the warm weather. She greatly enjoys spending time with her family and fishing.
She is the proud momma to 1 year old son Jase. He is learning how to walk and keeping her on her toes- let the chase for Jase begin!
She is a fellow dog lover, like many of her coworkers! She loves to hangout with her dogs Duke and Cash.
