Washington State Employs ‘Drug-Runners’ To Deliver Medications to Medicaid Beneficiaries

After some Washington state pharmacies stopped serving Medicaid beneficiaries in response to reduced payment rates, some beneficiaries have been receiving their medications from legal "drug-runners" employed by the state, the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. Lawmakers last session trimmed $22 million from pharmacists' Medicaid payments to help reduce a $1.6 billion state deficit. In response, many pharmacies in rural counties have stopped filling prescriptions for Medicaid beneficiaries. For example, eight out of nine pharmacies in Okanogan County no longer serve Medicaid beneficiaries, and the ninth pharmacy is considering similar action. Many of the county's 4,630 Medicaid beneficiaries do not live within 100 miles of a pharmacist willing to fill their prescriptions. To help those residents and other rural Medicaid beneficiaries obtain prescriptions, the state Department of Social and Health Services has allocated $40 million to employ "transportation brokers" who deliver medications to beneficiaries (AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 8/19). The state pays volunteers by the mile to either arrange transportation for beneficiaries or deliver medications to them. Volunteers and state workers -- who are already traveling around the state for other reasons -- also help beneficiaries try to obtain medications through alternative methods, such as by mail-order (Ostrom, Seattle Times, 8/19). Doug Porter, director of the social and health services division overseeing Medicaid, said that while the new delivery system is not an ideal solution, Medicaid beneficiaries will have improved access to medications when the state implements a mail-order system within a month. He added, "But for all the noise I heard in July about the sky falling, we're two weeks into [the payment cut] and I think it's going smoothly. We have not heard any catastrophic incidents." Rep. Cathy McMorris (R) said she plans to "review the situation" in January when the state Legislature reconvenes. In its last session, the Legislature considered other methods to reduce the state's prescription drug costs, including implementing a preferred drug list under Medicaid (AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 8/19).