Tennessee To Appoint TennCare Pharmacy Adviser by July 1

Tennessee officials are expected to appoint a pharmacy adviser by July 1 for TennCare, the state's Medicaid managed care program, as part of a larger plan to curb rising drug costs, the Chattanooga Times & Free Press reports (Park, Chattanooga Times & Free Press, 6/20). The adviser, who will be a "nationally recognized" pharmaceutical issues expert, will help the state evaluate prescription drug use issues, Leo Sullivan, TennCare's director of pharmacy, said. He added that the state will implement drug cost-containment strategies for TennCare, including setting a cap on the amount the program will pay pharmacists for brand-name drugs that have generic equivalents, conducting annual audits of 15,000 pharmacies across the state and developing a drug formulary. A recent audit of TennCare by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the cost of providing prescription drugs to TennCare beneficiaries increased 16% to 17% per beneficiary per month last year. Sullivan said, "You want to control inappropriate utilization and you want to control costs," adding, "It's a top priority in TennCare right now." TennCare spokesperson Lola Potter said that although several candidates for the adviser position have been interviewed, "no selection has been made" (AP/Nashville Tennessean, 6/21).