Here's a really big "Thank You" from all of us
in Austin working on behalf of community pharmacy. During debate on
the Senate floor Thursday, the three senators who spoke repeatedly
referred to "hearing from pharmacists." Your phone calls
definitely got their attention!
But keep your powder dry for a while till we send out
the next PharmPhlash. At any time, we
could be asking your help on any or all of the bills below. Entering
the final month of this legislative session means everything will
move faster and with shorter notice.
Here's an update on the various bills in progress:
 SB 23 by Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound). This is the bill
you called about Thursday. Sen. Leticia van de Putte, RPh (D-San
Antonio) really went to bat for us. She pointed out the value of
community pharmacy in the Medicaid program and her concerns about
putting pharmacy in managed care. She also spoke about
access to care, prompt pay, mail order parity, and open networks.
Then Sen. Glen Hegar (R-Katy) stood up to add his support to Sen. Van
de Putte's comments.
To follow what happened next, it helps to know that
the Senate often operates in a more formal manner than the House, and
values civility and camaraderie. Sens. van de Putte and Hegar
both got public promises that Sen. Nelson would work to add community
pharmacy's concerns as the bill makes its way through the process in
the House.
SB 546, physician dispensing, by Sen. Bob Deuell, MD
(R-Greenville). This is on the Senate intent calendar. We
delivered an opposition letter signed by six pharmacy
organizations to all Senate offices. Currently we don't
believe the bill has enough votes to allow it to be debated
and voted on. It also is opposed by the Workers' Comp insurance
companies, as well as the Texas Association of Business. However, we
still need you to be alert in case we need a phone blitz.
CSHB 3678 by Rep. Fred Brown (R-Bryan). We submitted a committee
substitute bill to address concerns expressed at the first committee
hearing. We hope these changes will garner the votes needed to get
out of committee.
HB 2292 by Rep. Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi). This is
the PBM prompt pay /audit bill and is on the way to
Calendars committee to be set for floor debate.
HB 3266 by Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stephenville). Mail order
parity verification is pending in committee. Rep. Miller's chief
of staff Karen Kolb, our PBM expert Gerry Purcell, and I had a
conference call with a representative of the State Auditor's
office. The SAO had misinterpreted the scope of the type of
audit we are talking about and had put a huge fiscal note on it. This
session, any bill with a fiscal note is not coming out of
committee. After the call the SAO came back with some language
changes that will eliminate the fiscal note and should enable us to
get the bill voted out of insurance committee rather quickly.
Stay tuned! We're really getting into the fast and
furious final days of the session.
Richard
E. Beck, RPh
Executive
Director
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