Medicaid drug rule may hurt recipients

WASHINGTON — An obscure provision slipped into a $120 billion Iraq spending bill in May threatens to leave some poor and disabled Medicaid recipients without prescription drugs in October.

In a case of unintended consequences, Congress inserted a rule cracking down on Medicaid fraud that requires that all non-electronic prescriptions for Medicaid patients be written on tamper-resistant paper.

The rule was devised as a way to raise nearly $150 million over five years for public hospitals, the amount that Medicaid fraud costs the federal government.

It has been criticized as too much, too soon by pharmacists, doctors, patient advocacy groups and state Medicaid officials. They say doctors could leave Medicaid, pharmacists could lose money and patients could be denied drugs.

More at link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-09-16-drugs_N.htm?csp=1