Florida Looks to Rein In Cost of Repackaged Drugs

In an effort to lower workers’ compensation costs, Florida lawmakers are proposing to limit the amount physicians can charge for providing patients with prescription drugs.

State Sen. Alan Hays (R-Umatilla) and Rep. Matt Hudson (R-Naples) filed joint bills calling for a limit to be placed on physician dispensed drugs in light of this year’s workers’ compensation rate increase.

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty last month approved an 8.9 percent increase, of which, the National Council on Compensation Insurance said 2.5 percent were attributable to rising drug costs. The 2.5 percent figure translates into $62 million in additional costs to businesses.

At a press conference, Hudson urged his fellow lawmakers to act.

“We can choose to charge every business in Florida 9 percent more in workers’ compensation insurance or we can choose to charge them less,” said Hudson.

Since 2003, Florida has placed a cap on pharmacy dispensed drugs at three times the drug manufacturer’s wholesale price, plus a $4.18 dispensing fee. However, the law remained silent on the amount physicians could charge insurers if they dispense their own drugs.

As a result, the number of physicians dispensing drugs has skyrocketed.

NCCI calculated that in 2003, only 9 percent of drugs were dispensed by doctors. Since then, that number has risen to over 50 percent, making Florida the highest of 40 states.

The Hays/Hudson bills are designed to change that trend, or at least the reimbursements, by limiting the amount physicians can charge to the pharmacy rate.

Hays stressed that the bills would in no way compromise the care provided by workers’ compensation patients.

“All it does is place a limit on what physicians can charge,” he said.

In 2010, the legislature did pass a similar cap on physician provided drugs. However, drug companies, along with doctors’ groups, successfully lobbied to get then Gov. Charlie Crist to veto the measures.

They will face the same opposition this year.

Alia Faraj-Johnson, spokesperson for the Automated HealthCare Solutions, said the bills would only unfairly penalize doctors and patients who benefit from the convenient access to medication.

“Physician dispensing holds down costs for employers, improves patient care, and gets injured workers back to work sooner,” said Faraj-Johnson.

Topics Florida Workers' Compensation