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Nancy Smith

Senators Overhaul Workers' Comp Drug Repackaging Bill

February 22, 2012 - 6:00pm

Rather than just limit the amount doctors can charge their workers' comp patients for dispensing repackaged drugs in their offices, the Senate Health Regulation Committee's tennis match of amendments ended Wednesday in a bill that basically would do the following:

  • Roll back workers' comp rates by 2.5 percent, effective July 1, as proposed by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Destin.
  • Require that insurance companies receive $15 credit on any doctor-dispensed drugs that cost more than $25, as proposed by the committee chairman, Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah.

In addition, committee members largely remained unconvinced that repackaged-drug overcharges are costing the state $62 million, as business groups and the insurance industry contend. Their revision does not include an elimination of the price differences between repackaged drugs and pharmacy-filled prescriptions, as HB 511, the House version, does.

Gerald Wester, a lobbyist representing the interests of workers' comp insurers, claimed doctors dispensing in their offices are milking the system. But Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, one of the senators who offered an amendment Wednesday, asked him, "Why would you continue to contract with a doctor whose rates are so far out of line? You could send your patient anywhere, yet you send him back to the doctor who prescribes repackaged drugs. Why?"

Earlier speakers had explained why --that patients get better and get back to work faster when their prescriptions are filled on the spot, in the doctor's presence. Wester did not reply.

Miami Lakes orthopedic surgeon Gary Kelman told Sunshine State News after the meeting, "All of these people here today represent a dozen different interests. I came this distance to speak because I am the only one who represents the patients. Why do you think a football player is taken immediately into the locker room after an injury? Because for the best outcome, treatment must begin immediately. That's why you want doctors dispensing drugs in their offices."

Asked what percentage of workers' comp doctors now dispensing medication in their offices would continue to do so if their charges are capped at the level of big pharmacies, Kelman said, "Zero. None. It would be a complete money loser. Doctors can't buy medicine on contingent. They can't send back what they don't use. It will be a complete money loser if the bill goes through with a cap, as written in the House."

Brian Ballard -- like attorney Tom Panza, lobbying for software solutions firm Automated HealthCare Solutions -- contradicted Tamela Perdue, Associated Industries of Florida general counsel. Perdue had testifed that SB 668 is about containing insurance rates to help businesses and "closing a loophole to make the workers'-compensation rates more affordable."

"There is no loophole to close," Ballard said. "None."

Monte Stevens, a government affairs officer for the Office of Insurance Regulation, confirmed after the meeting that Cabinet approval is not needed to reduce workers' compensation rates. "The Legislature has the authority to tell the insurance commissioner to make a 2.5 percent cut," Stevens said.

Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, SB 668 sponsor, who in his summary remarks plugged the cap for dispensing physicians and talked about their "outlandish" charges as "abuse of the system," said he has no intention of allowing the bill to go further as amended Wednesday.

"We're going to get this thing back under control," he said when the meeting ended.

Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.

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