U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act: Next Steps for Virginia

Yesterday (as announced in the VPhA Pharmacy News Flash) the United States Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in a 5-4 decision with Chief Justice Roberts voting with the liberal side of the court.  There were 3 main points that the Supreme Court addressed.  They are: 

1. The Individual Mandate (requirement to purchase and maintain health insurance) was deemed Constitutional as it is construed to be a tax on those that refuse to purchase insurance.
2. The Federal Government cannot withhold all Medicaid funding from a state if said state opts to not participate in the expansion of the Medicaid program
3. Even with the rejection of the withholding of Medicaid funds, the rest of the Affordable Care Act was deemed that it could stand on its own thus the act was upheld 

How will this impact Virginia?  Speaker of the House William Howell confirmed yesterday in a statement that "Work will begin shortly implementing a state-run health benefits exchange in Virginia, as required by the PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act)".  As far as the implementation of the Medicaid expansion, we will be waiting on a response from the Governor's office on how the Commonwealth will proceed on possible implementation of the Medicaid expansion.

Free Continuing Education for all Healthcare Professionals - The Nation's Poison Control Centers

VPhA members are invited to take advantage of a free educational event with continuing education credits  to help increase awareness of our nation’s poison centers accessed by calling the toll-free Poison Help number 1-800-222-1222.

You may know that poison centers provide medical treatment and triage for poisonings to help people of all ages and in all kinds of poisoning situations. Poison centers are also a resource for healthcare professionals.  On average, 16% of all calls to poison centers are placed from healthcare facilities each year.  The eLearning module provides an overview of poison center resources, relevant poisoning trends, strategies for integrating poison center services into clinical practice and information about accessing a poison center.

Continuing education credits are available from June 15 to September 28, 2012.

• Please visit the eLearning link:
• http://pssc.aphanet.org/resources2/pssc-presentations/  
• Learn more about the Poison Help line and HRSA’s Poison Control Program by visiting:
• http://poisonhelp.hrsa.gov/

This eLearning module has been developed by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Poison Control Program and Office of Pharmacy Affairs with the support of the HRSA Pharmacy Services Support Center.

Information From June 12th Board of Pharmacy Meeting (Members Only)

As a benefit to VPhA members, VPhA is providing to you materials from the Board of Pharmacy meetings.  Included for your information is the following:

• A summary by VPhA on activities of the Board during the meeting so that you are aware of actions as soon as possible
• Link to the meeting agenda and information packet
• Minutes from the meeting (these will stay in draft form until the Board reviews and adopts the minutes at their next meeting)
• Inspection Report document that includes the most commonly cited Major and Minor deficiencies for the months prior to the Board meeting

Please click here for information on the June 12th meeting of the Board of Pharmacy.

Virginia Medicaid Delayed Remittance Scheduled for June 29, 2012

The 2012 Appropriation Act, Item 297 PP.1. requires that the remittance that normally would be paid on Friday, June 29, 2012 will instead be paid on Friday, July 6, 2012. This annual delay was originally communicated in DMAS' Medicaid Memo of May 14, 2010.

All claims will be processed as usual based on the date they are received. Furthermore, providers will be able to verify claims status information via MediCall and ARS without disruption.

Providers should plan accordingly and prepare for this delay in claims payment. DMAS will not issue advance pays associated with this delay.