Smart Pharmacy Facing Problems

By MB -
Walgreens Prescription BottleSmart Pharmacy, also known as the pharmacy carve-out, would yield significant savings to the state on the cost of Medical Assistance prescription drug benefits. These savings would be achieved by giving DPW authority to administer the drug prescription program for all 2 million MA recipients. Currently, DPW does not administer the benefit for 1.2 million MA recipients who are enrolled in managed care organizations in the Southeast, South-Central, and Southwest parts of the state.

However, the program is facing some opposition from legislators and providers, as it has over the past two years when it has come up for a vote.

Smart Pharmacy is estimated to save the state $146 million per year in reduced costs. In this time of budget crisis, every dollar is needed to reduce cuts in programs that are vital to our state.

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