Long-term care pharmacies are struggling with an Affordable Care Act provision related to short-cycle dispensing of brand name oral solid drugs, according to a recent letter from the Long Term Care Pharmacy Alliance and the National Community Pharmacists Association. Providers raised concerns that a short-cycle dispensing requirement might fuel additional dispensing fees and labor costs that would offset any savings from reducing the amount of unused drugs. Policymakers must quickly come up with a better definition of “brand name drugs,” according to the letter the two groups recently sent to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
