Medicaid drug payments changing again Nov. 1

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana's health department has revised its plan to shrink Medicaid prescription drug program costs, responding to complaints from community pharmacists who claimed the changes would put many of them out of business.

The pharmacists and their legislative supporters have expressed strong opposition in public hearings and private meetings since the new reimbursement rules went into effect in September.

They claimed that cuts associated with the changes would yield far more than the $32.5 million Medicaid budget savings projected.

Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein told The Advocate  that the reimbursement changes will be replaced Nov. 1 with new rules that achieve savings and keep the pharmacies in business.

Louisiana Independent Pharmacies Association president Randal Johnson thanked DHH for working "toward a fair and transparent reimbursement methodology."