Dispensing

AMCP supports legislative and regulatory standards that require any health care provider empowered to dispense or furnish prescription and/or non-prescription drugs to be equally subject to all state and federal laws and regulations concerning these functions.

Therapeutic Purpose Inclusion on Prescriptions and Medication Orders

Policy 0027

11/01/1999 Introduced

03/01/2004 Reapproved

12/01/2008 Reapproved

10/01/2012 Revised

03/27/2017 Reapproved

02/12/2019 Revised

10/29/2019 Revised

Pharmacist Responsibility in the Drug Distribution Process

Policy 0028

02/01/2000 Introduced
02/01/2005 Reapproved
02/01/2010 Reapproved

04/07/2015 Reapproved

02/21/2021 Reapproved

AMCP supports the pharmacist's authority to control and direct the drug distribution process and the requirement that the pharmacist bear responsibility for all completed medication orders regardless of practice setting.

AMCP supports the establishment of a class of drugs that would allow consumers, with the intervention of a pharmacist, to purchase certain medications without a prescription. The establishment of a behind-the-counter (BTC) classification would grant patients access to necessary medications while being counseled by a pharmacist to ensure that the patient meets certain criteria prior to dispensing and to provide education on proper use and monitoring. AMCP supports the establishment of a third class of BTC drugs if the following conditions are met:

• Medications selected for BTC status must provide a benefit to the public
• Decisions on which drugs are selected for BTC status must be based on clinical effectiveness and safety
• Standardized processes for ordering and dispensing of BTC drugs must be established
• Pharmacists must be required to perform clinical evaluation and interventions before dispensing BTC drugs
• Pharmacist training requirements must be based on knowledge and skills required to interpret objective clinical data and to apply selection criteria in order to dispense BTC products
• Patient health information must be protected
• Program oversight requirements must be developed

(See AMCP Managed Care Pharmacy Practice Positions – Behind-the-Counter Drugs)

Audits serve two main purposes: 1) detecting fraud, waste and abuse, and 2) validating data entry and documentation to ensure they meet regulatory and contractual requirements. The audit process should be transparent and have a fair design and implementation. The managed care organization should supply the pharmacy provider with a document that defines the requirements on which it may base an audit. The actual audits should be conducted in a manner that leads to continuous quality improvement of the services of the provider, rather than as a source of revenue. Further, the provider must review and be comfortable with these documents before it agrees to a contract. It is imperative that pharmacists-in-charge, and their staff, understand the dispensing and billing requirements and the implications of non-compliance. A bilateral professional level of performance can make the audit process run smoothly, be educational and improve quality.

(See AMCP Model Audit Guidelines for Pharmacy Claims)

Use of Technology

Policy 1307

02/01/2013 Introduced

04/12/2021 Revised

AMCP supports the implementation and expanded use of health information technology (HIT), including the use of electronic health records, real time benefit checks, automated prior authorization tools, and electronic prescribing. AMCP supports the adoption and use of national standards that improve system interoperability among providers and payers to enable better patient access to their health information. This includes the use of requisite sets of functional elements necessary for optimizing medication access, safety and cost-effective utilization to improve the process of dispensing and delivering drugs to patients while maintaining patient privacy.

(See AMCP Managed Care Pharmacy Practice Positions – Use of Technology)

Mail Service Pharmacies

Policy 1202

12/01/2012 Introduced

02/21/2021 Revised

AMCP believes that managed care organizations (MCOs) must have the flexibility to utilize mail service delivery of prescription drugs as a component of their prescription drug benefit. Mail service pharmacies are a valuable tool used by MCOs to increase patient safety, offer patient convenience, and maintain the affordability of the prescription drug benefit. Additionally, MCOs should have the ability to set patient cost-sharing levels for prescription orders filled through mail service pharmacies which are different from the patient cost-sharing levels for prescription orders filled through retail pharmacies.

(See AMCP Managed Care Pharmacy Practice Positions – Mail Service Pharmacies)

Medication Synchronization

Policy 1501

02/10/2015 Introduced

The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) supports the concept of medication synchronization as one tool that may improve adherence.  Prescription drug therapy provides a tremendous value to the overall healthcare system and that value is only realized when medication therapies are taken by patients as prescribed.  AMCP supports continued industry development and rollout of medication synchronization programs and believes that best practices currently being developed will benefit patients and payers.  Therefore AMCP will oppose legislation that mandates medication synchronization and requires a specific government framework as an unnecessary barrier to best practices. 

(See AMCP Managed Care Pharmacy Practice Positions – Medication Synchronization.)