Reps. Berry and Jones Conference Call on Prompt Payment Bill and University of Texas Study on Medicare Part D Reimbursement

WHAT: Rep. Marion Berry (D-Ark.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.), original sponsors of a bill aimed at addressing the slow reimbursement of Medicare Part D prescription drug claims, will participate in a conference call unveiling a University of Texas at Austin study confirming the severity of the problem. WHEN: Thursday, September 6, 2007, at 2:00 pm (Eastern Time) DIAL-IN #: 800-944-8766 (Conference Code is 36481) WHY: Slow Part D payments have forced community pharmacies to borrow tens of thousands of dollars since the program's launch. Preliminary findings from the annual NCPA-Pfizer Digest survey of community pharmacies' financial health found that 1,152 closed their stores in 2006, after years of stability. Part D and its slow payments were the only new factor introduced into the marketplace over the last year. The University of Texas at Austin's Center for Pharmacoeconomic Studies' August 2007 report called the "Length of Prescription Drug Payment Times by Medicare Part D Plans" calculated the time between claim adjudication and when the pharmacy received payment in 2006. The data came from 3 million Part D claims from 145 community pharmacies and 17 chain drug stores. It found the median percentage of community pharmacy claims that are over 30 days was 50.1 percent, including 17.2 percent that took over 60 days. Pharmacies commonly have to pay their suppliers every 15 days, yet the median percentage of claims that arrived in that time span was only 1.3 percent. Reps. Berry and Jones' bill H.R. 1474, the Fair and Speedy Treatment (FAST) of Medicare Prescription Drug Claims Act of 2007, has nearly 200 cosponsors. The Senate version is S.1954, the Pharmacy Access Improvement Act (PhAIM) of 2007. Both bills require complete and accurate Part D prescription drug claims submitted electronically be paid within 14 days, and paper claims within 30 days. SPEAKERS: Rep. Marion Berry (D-Ark.) Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) Charles Sewell, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, NCPA Kristin Richards PHD, Research Associate, Center for Pharmacoeconmic Studies, University of Texas at Austin CONTACT: John Norton of the National Community Pharmacists Association, +1-703-600-1174, john.norton@ncpanet.org

/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- Sept. 4/