[nfbwatlk] Seattle PI 5-22-09 Walgreens will serve Medicaid patients despite discount change

[Nightingale, Noel]

thought some on this list might find this of interest.
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From: ESD GP GCDE-INFO [mailto:GCDE-INFO at ESD.WA.GOV]
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 9:21 AM
To: GCDE-INFO at LISTSERV.WA.GOV
Subject: FW: FYI: Seattle PI 5-22-09 Walgreens will serve Medicaid patients despite discount change

From: Stevenson, Jim H. (DSHS/HRSA)
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 5:01 PM
Subject: FYI: Seattle PI 5-22-09 Walgreens will serve Medicaid patients despite discount change

Friday, May 22, 2009

Walgreens will serve Medicaid patients, after all
By VANESSA HO
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
Walgreens announced Friday it will continue to fill Medicaid prescriptions in all its pharmacies in Washington, after state officials came out with drug reimbursement rates more in line with the rest of the country.
In March, the Illinois-based company and country's largest drugstore chain, threatened to stop serving Medicaid patients in 44 of its stores in Washington, including four in Seattle. That was because the state was planning to implement the lowest Medicaid reimbursement rate for brand-name drugs in the country.
The plan prompted pharmacy groups to sue the state in federal court. Bartell Drugs also announced that it would no longer accept new Medicaid patients in his stores.
A judge then imposed an injunction on the proposed rate in April, and the Legislature passed a law that said in effect the state's proposed payment rate was too low. The lawsuit has since been dismissed.
The new rate, announced this week, reduces reimbursement of name-brand drugs for Medicaid patients, but less drastically than what was initially proposed.
Effective July 1, the Department of Social and Health Services said it will decrease the amount it pays pharmacies from 86 percent to 84 perceent of the manufacturer's average wholesale price. The state had originally wanted to reduce reimbursement to just 80 percent of that cost.
"This rate allows us to continue serving Medicaid customers," said Tiffani Washington, a spokeswoman for Walgreens, which had sales of $59 billion in fiscal year 2008.
There was no immediate comment Friday from Bartell Drugs or the Washington State Pharmacy Association.
The new rate is expected to save the state roughly $12 million in the coming biennium. The state also expects to save $81 million through a plan to emphasize generic drugs over brand-name drugs.
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Vanessa Ho can be reached at 206-448-8003 or vanessaho at seattlepi.com.