CONCEPT DRAFT

SUMMARY

This emergency bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208.

This bill proposes to require the Legislature to undertake an immediate overview of prescription drug policies of the Department of Health and Human Services under all programs in this State that improve access to prescription drugs, including MaineCare, the elderly low-cost drug program and the Maine Rx Plus Program, to ensure that rules for these programs do not limit access to prescription drugs in rural areas.

The bill also proposes that an overview of the pharmacy incentive payment be undertaken and an alternative change in the reimbursement per prescription be considered.

This bill proposes to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to undertake emergency rulemaking to implement rules that allow rural clients who are taking consistent schedules of prescription drugs to have 3-month prescriptions and allow an 8-day window when a prescription drug may be refilled, an increase from the current 5-day window and the one-month prescription allowed. A client may be considered a rural client if that client lives more than 15 miles from a pharmacy. The Department of Health and Human Services may also adopt rules that allow doctors to identify both experimental and likely short-term prescriptions and long-term prescriptions to reduce the rate of waste from prescriptions that are filled but not used.