Last week, Drug Store News reported that Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear a case that is critical to California pharmacies struggling under the reimbursement rate cuts put in place by the massive Medi-Cal budget cuts implemented this year.

A coalition of pharmacy and health care advocates filed suit following passage of the 10 percent cuts to Medi-Cal, and a California judge agreed with them, ruling to block the cuts. The case has since been appealed to the higher circuit court, which now holds the future of California’s community pharmacies in its hands.

As the Drug Store News article reports:

Because California Medi-Cal rates are already extremely low and many prescription medications are reimbursed at breakeven rates, many providers cannot afford to participate. Kaiser State Health Facts lists California as the lowest reimbursed state in the nation.

“We expect the appeal to be met with the same verdict Judge Snyder handed down in January, which is to block the Medi-Cal reimbursement cuts,” stated Jon Roth, CPhA CEO. “It’s very clear that if the state moves forward with Medi-Cal payment cuts, access to care for patients is sure to worsen. Many pharmacists throughout the state will have no choice but to turn away new Medi-Cal patients or be forced to stop accepting Medi-Cal all together, which will end up sending California’s poorest, most vulnerable citizens to the hospital or emergency room for care. In the end, California will lose far more many than the projected savings from the cuts.”

Pharmacy Choice and Access Now joins other pharmacy and health care advocacy groups in hopes that the Ninth Circuit will uphold the earlier ruling, and block these disastrous cuts, preserving patient access to critical pharmacy care.

Click here to visit PCAN online and find out what you can do to help fight back against Medi-Cal cuts!