Tag: California

Putting Policy into Practice: Contraception Care in San Francisco Pharmacies

Contraception Care in San Francisco Pharmacies

What makes some pharmacies more successful than others at implementing pharmacist-prescribed contraception care? To answer this question, we conducted a study to determine the extent of hormonal contraceptive prescribing, also referred to as furnishing in California, among San Francisco community pharmacies, and identify the factors that led to successful implementation.

Implementation in San Francisco pharmacies 

After calling all 113 community and independent pharmacies located in San Francisco, we identified 21 locations (19%) that furnished hormonal contraception. Only one of these was an independent pharmacy; the rest were chain community pharmacies. Half or more of Costco, CVS, and Safeway locations furnished hormonal contraception, while less than 5% of Walgreens and independent pharmacies did so. 

Factors associated with successful adoption

Within the control of pharmacies

We identified three main factors that led to successful implementation that were within pharmacy control. The first was a company protocol—respondents stated that having an established precedent and administrative support, and paying for pharmacists’ training, was crucial for successful implementation. The second was advertising, due to the community’s limited awareness of this service. Lastly, the accessibility of pharmacists played a role in increasing access to services and to hormonal contraception. 

Relating to the setting or larger community

We also identified factors leading to successful implementation outside the control of pharmacies. These included the location of the pharmacy and its patient population, as well as collaboration with local clinics. Pharmacies in proximity to students and other younger and short-term residents found there was more need for hormonal contraceptive furnishing services. One pharmacy had an existing collaboration with a local clinic and its providers that acted as a bridge to the service. 

Barriers to service adoption 

Respondents also reported several barriers to successful implementation. The cost of consultation for patients was a widespread concern. Lack of time was another barrier reported by many pharmacists, which could be resolved through scheduled appointments or more overlaps of pharmacist shifts. The last identified barrier was patient privacy. Many respondents expressed a need for a private consultation room in order to provide a confidential service, and those that had a private consultation room acknowledged this as a benefit. 

Effect of COVID-19 on furnishing 

Our data collection began in April 2020, shortly after the introduction of San Francisco’s shelter-in-place order. We asked study participants to comment on whether practices or demand for hormonal contraception had changed under the shelter-in-place order and responses were mixed. While some pharmacies reported an increase in demand for hormonal contraceptive furnishing, others reposted a decrease. 

Implications for the future

We found an increase in participation among pharmacies in San Francisco that were furnishing hormonal contraception than previously reported in California overall; 19% in San Francisco in 2020 versus 11% statewide in 2017. This finding could reflect either pharmacies adding this service gradually over time or a local phenomenon. However, CVS pharmacists reported that a new corporate protocol was initiated in 2020, suggesting the higher rate of furnishing we identified could be reflected statewide. Our results detailed successful strategies used by San Francisco community pharmacies that could serve as a model for expanding this service to other pharmacies. In the words of one respondent:

“The pharmacist is the most overtrained and underutilized health care professional we have.”

With more widespread implementation of this service, community pharmacists can increase their scope of practice, improve quality and continuity of care for patients, and expand access to hormonal contraception to improve reproductive health.

Link to the full paper.

References

  1. California Board of Pharmacy 1746.1: Protocol for pharmacists furnishing self- administered hormonal contraception. Link.
  2. Chen L, Lim J, Jeong A, & Apollonio D. Implementation of hormonal contraceptive furnishing in San Francisco community pharmacies, 2020. Journal of American Pharmacists Association. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2020.07.019
  3. Gomez AM. Availability of pharmacist-prescribed contraception in California, 2017. JAMA. 2017;318(22):2253e2254. 

Chen Lim Jeong ApollonioAbout the Authors

Lauren Chen, Julie Lim, and Asher Jeong are third-year doctoral students at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Pharmacy. Dorie Apollonio is a professor in the UCSF Department of Clinical Pharmacy.

Contraception During COVID: California’s Medi-Cal and FamilyPACT Programs Cover Depo-SubQ Provera

We recently wrote about the importance of offering patients subcutaneous depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SQ) as a contactless form of contraception during the COVID-19 public health emergency. California pharmacists can prescribe DMPA-SQ under statewide protocol upon completing the required training program and obtain payment for the visit for Medi-Cal patients.

As of April 9, 2020, California’s Medi-Cal, FamilyPACT, and managed Medi-Cal health plans are covering DMPA-SQ under pharmacy benefits.

To facilitate compliance with state and federal guidelines for sheltering in place and physical distancing, DHCS will temporarily allow for pharmacy dispensing of DMPA-SQ directly to patients for self-administration at home. This is in addition to current Medi-Cal policy that allows administration by a health care professional. Self-administration of DMPA-SQ would be at the option of the Medi-Cal recipient after individualized discussions and decision-making between the prescriber and the recipient. The prescribing provider is responsible for ensuring proper training of the recipient in administering the drug, potential side effects, and proper disposal of the pre-filled syringe.

The FamilyPACT system updates to allow for claim reimbursement of DMPA-SQ will not be implemented until May 15, 2020 for pharmacy dispensing, with a retro-effective date on or after April 9, 2020.  Pharmacies may re-process their denied claims after the implementation date and it should process successfully at that time. FamilyPACT always recommend that pharmacies validate eligibility, process the claim, get the denial, dispense the medication, and reprocess the claim after May 15 for payment. The reprocessed claim will show payment for the actual date of service as long as it is not before April 9.

Additionally, a reminder that a Medi-Cal beneficiary should not be required to pay for a covered medication until all avenues of successful processing have been explored and the department denies the service (for example the provider tries obtaining a TAR) and only if the patient requests to purchase the medication out of pocket. 

The full policy document is published on the COVID-19 webpage at: Direct-to-Patient Dispensing of Subcutaneous Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate – COVID-19 Emergency. This temporary policy change is effective immediately and remains in effect until further notice.

Payment for Pharmacist Services in California

As of April 2019, California’s State Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, is providing payment for selected pharmacist services. This change is due to legislation (California Assembly Bill 1114) that was passed in 2016.

Medi-Cal Medicaid Payment Reimbursement Pharmacist Services

What is covered?

Pharmacist services are benefits for eligible fee-for-service Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

The following pharmacist services are now covered:

  1. Hormonal contraception
  2. Immunizations
  3. Tobacco cessation
  4. Travel health
  5. Naloxone

At this time, Medi-Cal is allowing pharmacists to bill for the following CPT codes:

  1. 99201 – New Patient (~10 minutes)
  2. 99212 – Established Patient (~10 minutes)
  3. 90471 – Immunization administration only

A new patient is one who has not received any pharmacist services at the same pharmacy in the last 3 years. An established patient has received pharmacist services at the same pharmacy within the last 3 years.

The rate of reimbursement for pharmacist services is 85% the physician rate. This is a change for reimbursement of the pharmacist service only. There is no change to the reimbursement for any medications that are furnished (prescribed and dispensed) — those have always been reimbursed at the same rate regardless of what provider type wrote the prescription. 

Pharmacist services must be billed by a Medi-Cal enrolled pharmacy. Since payment will be made to the pharmacy (and not any individual pharmacists), bills must be submitted by the pharmacy and include the rendering provider/pharmacist information.

How do pharmacists get started with billing?

Pharmacists must enroll as an Ordering, Referring, and Prescribing Provider (ORP Provider) with the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) in order to bill for these services. 

Before beginning the enrollment process, pharmacists will need:

  • A Type 1-Individual National Provider Identification (NPI) number. It is free to sign up for your NPI number online and only takes a few minutes.
  • A digital copy of their pharmacist (RPH) pocket license from the California Board of Pharmacy.
  • A digital copy of their California Drivers License.

To complete the ORP Provider enrollment process, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the PAVE Portal. If you are a pharmacy owner, you likely already have an account that you use to manage your pharmacy’s Business Profile account. You can invite your staff pharmacists as users for the pharmacy’s Business Profile, so that they may associate themselves with the pharmacy. 
  2. Select New Application.  
  3. Select “I’m new to Medi-Cal and I want to create a new application” and “I’m an individual licensed/certified healthcare practitioner. See screenshot below. PAVE 1
  4. For Business Structure, select “I’m an Ordering/Referring/Prescribing (ORP) provider.” See screenshot below. pave-2.png
  5. For NPI number, enter your Type 1-Individual NPI number. This is your personal pharmacist NPI number, not the pharmacy’s NPI number. See screenshot below.pave-3-e1561883852442.png
  6. For Provider type, select Other and type “Pharmacist” in the box. See screenshot below.pave-4.png
  7. For the remaining steps, follow the instructions to complete your application.  TIP: When entering your professional license information, there should be no space between the alpha character and the license number. For example, enter your pharmacist license as RPH12345 without any spaces.

For technical support, call the PAVE Help Desk at (866)252-1949, Monday – Friday, 8:00 am – 6:00 pm Pacific time, excluding state holidays.

When can I start billing?

Visit dates on April 1, 2019 or after can be billed to Medi-Cal. Pharmacists will need to wait for their enrollment as an ORP provider to be approved before they can begin billing — you should expect this to take 3 months and may take up to 6 months.

How do I bill?

All claims must be submitted using CMS Form 1500.

For more information about billing procedures and documentation requirements, see the Medi-Cal Bulletin and follow the link under Item 1 to the provider manual.

 

References