OPA COVID-19 Vaccines: September 14, 2021 Update

 

Pharmacists Authorized to Order and Administer COVID-19 Therapeutics under PREP Act
Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced an amendment to the COVID-19 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act declaration to allow licensed pharmacists to order and administer COVID-19 therapeutics, including subcutaneous monoclonal antibodies. See the HHS directive here. Additionally, Ohio’s Board of Pharmacy released the following guidance document that provides additional information.

MTM Opportunities Still Available 
Pharmacies are still eligible to receive an additional $30 over the $70 administration reimbursement for the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered to eligible Medicaid patients. Ohio’s managed care organizations continue to provide additional pharmacy incentives through CSS Health and OutcomesMTM platforms. Pharmacists are encouraged to engage with these platforms to ensure that these claims are closed. Please see this survey to gauge your pharmacy’s interest in the MTM vaccine reimbursement program: MTM Vaccine Incentives Feedback Survey. 

Informational Resource Outreach Opportunity 
Ohio’s managed care plans have created unique informational resources to boost vaccine confidence among community members. At this time, pharmacies can order door hangers with crucial COVID-19 vaccine information for their community members. Please respond to the COVID-19 Informational Resource by Friday, September 10, if you are interested in receiving this informational resource.

Reminder: Medicaid Vaccine Incentives Deadline Extended 
Ohio’s managed care plans announced that the incentives for administering the COVID-19 vaccine have been extended to December 31, 2021. The incentives include increased pharmacist administration reimbursement to $70 for first doses and gift cards for patients ages 12 and above on Medicaid insurance who received their first dose.  

1. Pharmacies can receive Visa gift cards directly to give to patients. If you are an independent pharmacy vaccinator, please email RxCovidTracking@centene.com for your gift card needs. Thank you to those who have already responded with the projected numbers of gift cards needed.
   1. Once you get to 75% of your gift card allocation, please reach out to Attn: Meera Patel-Zook – Gift Card Request at RxCovidTracking@centene.com so that we can ship out an additional allotment to your store.
2. If you have received gift cards, please track them using COVID-19 Vaccine Gift Card Tracker Example. Vaccinators can add all the information for all MCOs in ONE tracker now and send that tracker to RxCOVIDTracking@CENTENE.COM.

Johnson and Johnson (Janssen) Vaccine Availability 
ODH announced that the Johnson and Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 vaccine will now be widely available for shipment following a national backorder. Vaccine providers can place orders for the vaccine through the ImpactSIIS Vaccine Ordering Management System (VOMS). ODH has also released the following best practices:

• Utilize the vaccine on hand using a “first-in, first-out” approach based on expiration dates.
• Reorder (in sets of 100 doses) in reasonable quantities to replenish the pharmacy supply
• A soft-cap maximum of 500 doses will be placed on each order
• If you have a special event requiring more than 500 doses, please call the ODH Provider Center, and ODH will work to fulfill your request
• ODH will oversee order adjustments to ensure equitable supply distribution as placing an order through VOMS does not guarantee delivery.

Communicating Flu Vaccine Availability 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and ODH invite all COVID-19 providers to use the CDC’s VaccineFinder to share the types of vaccine products available during this flu season. After registration and your account is activated, providers will be asked to mark any flu vaccine products you have as “In Stock.” Providers should update product availability every two weeks and mark “Out of Stock” when applicable. The CDC has begun to send registration invitations by email to Ohio providers to use the website.

ODH Motivations and Barriers Survey 
ODH is sharing a survey to understand real-time patient motivations and barriers related to the vaccine. This survey is voluntary. ODH will not collect personal identifying information. Vaccinators are requested to provide this four-question survey before vaccination or during the 15 minute wait period after vaccination. Ideas for methods to offer the survey include:

• A staff person reading the questions to the patient and collecting the data on a computer or tablet.
• Patients scanning the QR code to complete the survey on their personal devices.
• The patient provided with access to a tablet or computer to complete the survey

Here is the link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PLW3DQC. Participation in this survey is voluntary. The motive of the survey is to ensure that ODH has a better picture of motivations and barriers for vaccines.

Helpful State Vaccine Resources and Information 
The following resources are helpful for vaccinators to contact ODH regarding vaccine shipments:

• COVID Vaccine Provider Call Center: 1-844-963-4829 (The ODH Provider Call Center is open daily from 8:00 am – 7:00 pm Monday through Friday and is no longer open on weekends)
• COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Resources website
• ImpactSIIS Job Aids and Videos
• ImpactSIIS help desk: email impact@odh.ohio.gov for assistance or call 1-866-349-0002.

    OPA is working diligently to facilitate communication between state decision-makers and member pharmacists. OPA has created multiple COVID-19 resources, including a COVID-19 Vaccine Information Webpage, COVID-19 Testing Hub, and COVID-19 Resources Webpage, on the OPA website www.ohiopharmacists.org under the Resources drop-down box. For further questions, please contact Myriam Shaw Ojeda at mshawojeda@ohiopharmacists.org.