Drug plan slammed
at Blaine Manor meeting
By TRAVIS
PURSER
Express Staff Writer
A proposal
before the Idaho Legislature that would require Medicaid recipients to get
state authorization before having more than four drug prescriptions filled
at once was slammed repeatedly last week during a board meeting of Blaine
County’s only skilled-care nursing home.
The
requirement could prevent individuals from taking incompatible drugs, and
could save the state money by preventing patients from stockpiling drugs.
But, at residential facilities like Blaine Manor, requiring authorization
would be pointless, because trained on-site staff administer drugs, said
Blaine Manor’s director Gail Goglia and board Chairwoman Mary Ann Mix.
The
requirement would add an expensive and time-consuming layer of bureaucracy
to the management of the already financially struggling home. However, no
additional money would be made available to cover the extra cost, said the
home’s director of finance, Stephanie Jaskowski.
One of
Blaine Manor’s 25 residents required 30 prescription drugs that cost
$1,884 in one month, Jaskowski said.
"I
thought (Gov. Dirk Kempthorne) was worried about the incompatibility of
drugs. I thought he was trying to be compassionate. Wrong," Mix said.
"It’s
absolutely ridiculous," Goglia said.
The
proposed authorization requirement could be beneficial at facilities that
don’t have good oversight of prescriptions, said Kathleen Allyn, deputy
administrator of Medicaid.
But, so
far, the proposed rules would not distinguish between homes with medical
directors, who oversee prescriptions, and homes without medical directors.
Blaine
Manor employs both a medical director and a pharmacy consultant.
Allyn said
Medicaid and the Idaho Health Care Association, which focuses on nursing
home issues, will meet to discuss the matter further.
The
prescription proposal is part of a plan by the Idaho Department of Health
and Welfare and the governor to trim more than $15 million from the
Medicaid budget next year.
The plan
also proposes to require a review of patient records after a patient’s
third day in a hospital, rather than after the fourth day; to realign the
state-run Medicaid’s reimbursement rates with the federal Medicare
rates. It’s also intended to help prevent illness by expanding the
Healthy Connections program, which promotes communication between doctors
and patients.
Earlier
this month, the Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee
went one step further by cutting money for adult dental care and mental
health.