[Pharmwaste] CMS proposed rulemaking re: Long Term Care Facilities (note 7-day dispensing and disposal)

Sierra Fletcher sierra at productstewardship.us
Wed Nov 17 13:20:07 EST 2010


Dear colleagues,

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is issuing a proposed rulemaking under the healthcare act, with comments due in 60 days. (It will come out in the Federal Register on November 22nd but is available online now at the link below). The proposal applies to Medicare Part D in long term care facilities. It includes both a proposal to limit the dispensing of most branded drugs to 7-day quantities at a time (branded drugs are considered a first step) and a requirement that Part D sponsors (the health plans) "include terms in their LTC pharmacy contracts that require any unused drugs originally dispensed to the Part D sponsor's enrollees to be returned to the pharmacy...and reported to the sponsor....Such contracts will also address contractual obligations for disposal in accordance with Federal and State regulations..." This section is preceded with the comment that, "Only when data has been systematically collected will the extent of waste of Part D drugs be quantifiable on other than an anecdotal basis."

The full document is here:
http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2010-28774_PI.pdf

It's also linked here: http://www.ofr.gov/inspection.aspx

If you have other things to do today, I suggest you scroll down to page 54 to see the language I've excerpted above in context.

PSI will be developing comments and seeking input from our members and partners. If you are not already receiving emails from me directly but are interested in being part of our discussions on this topic, please contact me directly. I think this is an excellent opportunity for state and local agencies concerned about reducing and managing drug waste to weigh in.

Best regards,
Sierra



_____________________________
Sierra E. Fletcher
Director of Policy and Programs
Product Stewardship Institute, Inc.
29 Stanhope St., 3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02116
617-236-4886 (phone)
sierra at productstewardship.us
www.productstewardship.us<http://www.productstewardship.us/>

Click to follow us on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Product-Stewardship-Institute/224328115936?ref=ts> and Twitter<http://twitter.com/productsteward>


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/attachments/20101117/79471997/attachment.htm


More information about the Pharmwaste mailing list