�The ten percent Medi-Cal provider cuts that went into force on July 1, 2008 have already created hardships throughout California for pharmacists and the patients they serve. More and more pharmacies take been forced to stoppage filling Medi-Cal prescriptions because pharmacies suffer money on nearly every prescription filled. To escort, 224,281 Californians have signed petitions urging the Governor and Legislature to rescind the cuts to ensure that patients have the medications they need to live healthy lives.
"Our fears regarding these Medi-Cal provider cuts ar coming reliable," said Lynn Rolston, headman executive officer of the California Pharmacists Association. "Pharmacists have been forced to make the incredibly hard decisions to turn forth patients. This has been a real struggle for pharmacists as they have served many of these patients for years and have get like family. However, some pharmacists get no choice as farsighted as the state reimburses them at $10, $20 or $ 50 or more below actual toll of the drug. It's not rocket science: You can't stay in business if you are losing money on nearly every transaction. It's a sorry situation, unitary that tin hopefully be remedied by the courts or through an alternate solution by the Legislature."
While the provider cuts affect all health care professions, the impact on pharmacy is so fearful that a grassroots alinement called Patients for Access to Medicines, which has more than 40 organizations representing millions patients and providers, was formed to speak in a integrated voice against the cuts. Pharmacy organizations along with patient and senior advocacy groups such as the Mental Health Association in California, the Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America, the California Association of Health Plans and AARP, among many others, accredit and ar speaking out against the adverse effects these cuts will receive on the patients they represent.
"Pharmacists have been encouraged by the documentation we have received from patients crossways the state," said Rolston. "If you listed all the prayer signatures last to end, it would stretch ten miles."
A report, Assessing the Effects of Medi-Cal's Ten Percent Across-the-Board Provider Reimbursement Reductions on Access, Services and the Pharmacy Provider Network, produced by Health Management Associates, shows that the reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursements will event in pharmacies receiving reimbursements for many of the drugs they dispense that are less than the cost of acquiring and dispensing the drugs. As a result, many pharmacies are beingness forced to stop accepting Medi-Cal prescriptions, which could make it difficult for Medi-Cal patients to hold the medicines they need.
These findings support a trend that has interpreted place since the Medi-Cal provider cuts went into effect lowest month.
"The real tragedy is that many of these patients cannot go for even one day without their medication," continued Rolston. "Especially those with HIV, genial illness or cancer. Any disruption in care tin can have long term adverse complications, and will resultant role in patients turning to emergency suite for fear or worse, which testament cost the state far more money than the projected savings from these Medi-Cal cuts."
To learn more about Patients for Access to Medicines or the position the Health Management Associates report, see www.calaccessrx.org. The Web site also includes summaries of actions taken by pharmacies across the state since the cuts went into effect as well as testimonials by patients wHO, in some cases, feature been ineffectual to have their prescriptions filled.
Patients for Access to Medicines is a coalition founded by the California Pharmacists Association, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the California Retailers Association, to fight the ten per centum Medi-Cal supplier cuts. The coalition consists of patient advocacy organizations, senior groups and pharmacies throughout California.
www.calaccessrx.org
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