This year started another two-year General Assembly and a state budget process. Now law, the budget held several items of interest for pharmacy. OPA was thankful that removing the single PBM from Medicaid never found a home in the bill. Equally, OPA was able to maintain the 340B contracting pharmacy provision with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). This federal program provides critical access to underserved populations and areas of Ohio. While the Ohio House inserted as payment provision to stabilize pharmacy payments, the Ohio Senate was fed misinformation by our friends on the other side of the argument. This resulted in a conference committee provision with unintended consequences that both the House and Senate requested be vetoed by the Governor. That request was granted, but the problem remains. While no monumental leap forward occurred, pharmacy did not move backwards either.
This fall, we have House Bill 229 moving through the House with a companion in the Senate (SB 210). This will significantly reform the regulatory oversight upon PBMs under the Department of Insurance. Beyond this, we look forward to hearings on our Test & Treat legislation and finalizing legislation on prescriptive authority for pharmacists regarding birth control and nicotine cessation.
It has been an active first 6 months of the new General Assembly. OPA continues to fully engage with legislators to move our agenda forward. Your engagement during the budget process turned words into action. Thank you. While there’s always more to be done, we remain relentless in our pursuit of our legislative agenda.
Dave Burke, RPh, MBA
Executive Director