The Florida Pharmacy Association, led by new lobbying partner, Adams St. Advocates had an extremely successful Legislative Session.
FPA and the Independent Pharmacy Cooperative were instrumental in passing legislation that would require fair and uniform pharmacy audit rules (SB 702) by pharmacy benefit managers’ (PBMs). This new law will provide predictability and common sense business practices for pharmacies to prepare and respond to audits increasing efficiency and productivity.
FPA — through budget language — fought to give state employees the option to purchase their 90 day maintenance drugs from retail pharmacies. Current law required state employees to buy these drugs from a mail order pharmacy often resulting in much needed medication going to wrong addresses, waste due to a change in prescription or long periods of time sitting in mailboxes. This ability to visit and purchase from a retail pharmacy will give employees better access to care and proper medication counseling. This effort was strongly supported by Cynergy Consulting who represents multiple pharmacy related interests.
After much debate and controversy on the House side, FPA together with the Florida Independent Pharmacy Network and the Florida Society of Health System Pharmacists successfully supported legislation by Senator Denise Grimsley to address the number of pharmacy technicians a pharmacist must supervise. The legislation that ultimately passed both chambers wisely removes an arbitrary cap and allows the Board of Pharmacy to approve any increase in the number of pharmacy technicians a pharmacist can supervise in a particular setting. It revises the makeup of the Board to increase the number of actively practicing pharmacists to ensure patient safety is a priority in this process.
This was a major victory for ALL pharmacists in Florida.
