Missouri, Washington and West Virginia Adopt Emergency Changes
Brian Allen
VP of Government Affairs, Mitchell Pharmacy Solutions, An Enlyte Company
Mitchell Pharmacy Solutions is actively monitoring the evolving landscape related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Missouri, Washington and West Virginia recently announced changes that could impact the provision of pharmacy care to injured workers. Things are changing rapidly across the country and we invite you to access our 50-state guide that contains links to the latest information for each state.
Missouri
Pursuant to the Governor's Executive Order declaring an emergency, the Missouri Board of Pharmacy has issued an order allowing for the emergency dispensing of medications. The order allows pharmacies to dispense an emergency supply of medication to a patient if the pharmacy that originally filled the prescription is closed or unable to fill the prescription. The emergency fill can be for up to a 30-day supply of the medication. This exception does not apply to controlled substances.
The Governor's Executive Order can be found here. The Board of Pharmacy rule can be found here (see page 10).
Washington
The Washington State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission has adopted an emergency rule regarding emergency fills of expired prescriptions. The rule “allows a pharmacist, among other things, to grant an emergency refill of an expired prescription for up to a seventy-two hour supply for medications that are not maintenance medications, and a thirty-day supply for a maintenance medication if the pharmacist is unable to obtain refill authorization from the prescriber.” The rule is designed to help maintain continuity of care during the emergency.
A complete version of the rule can be found here.
West Virginia
West Virginia Insurance Commissioner James Dodrill issued Emergency Order 20-EO-03 on March 23, 2020. In that order, Commissioner Dodrill waived the standard time frames related to claims handling applicable to workers' compensation. The Commissioner did caution all stakeholders that they should endeavor to handle claims as expeditiously as possible.
The Commissioner's emergency order can be found here.