California Courts Consider Effects Of Medicaid Fee Reductions For Pharmacists

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco continues to hear arguments from pharmacists and California health officials about the potential effect of a 10% cut in Medi-Cal prescription drug fees on pharmacies, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Medi-Cal is the state's Medicaid program. The state Legislature in February approved a fee reduction for all Medi-Cal health providers effective July 1. Pharmacists, patients and advocates sued to block the cut, saying that California violated a federal law requiring Medicaid fees to be sufficient enough to maintain availability and quality of care. On July 11, the court ruled to block the reduction for up to one month. The state appealed the ruling and the court reinstated the cut on July 16, calling for additional arguments this week. Pharmacists contend the cut will... [read full story]