Tom Kraus VP, Government Relations at ASHP 

CMS pass through funding

What is pass through funding for residency programs and why is it so important?

On March 29th the US District Court of South Carolina granted MUSC Health’s motion for summary judgment again HHS for their disallowance of PGY1 residency costs.  Can you provide some details/background on this case?  What was the guidance that CMS was failing to provide?

Can speak about ASHP’s work with CMS to make the guidance more apparent to other programs moving forward?

What will be the downstream effect of this case on residency programs in the future?

Can you break down the practice for our listeners?

What are the concerns with white bagging?

What are the steps being taken at the state and federal level to take action to the concerns related to white bagging?

• Co-signing letter to the FDA
• Leveraging PELA and SPPL; can you explain?
• Partnership with AHA

Provider status

Can you talk about the work ASHP has done to ensure that pharmacists can provide Medication-assisted treatment (MAT)?

At the end of April the US House and Senate introduced the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act.  A similar bill has been submitted for the past couple of years.  Can you walk us through the history of this bill? What it would allow pharmacists to do? Why it is so important for the Country?  Statistics?

This bill continues to have bipartisan support.  What do we need to do as pharmacists to finally get this passed?

COVID-19 and its effect on provider status and Advocacy

Since the start of COVID-19 we’ve seen congress put forth bills and amendments that outline the healthcare response to the pandemic.  One such amendment to the PREP Act outlined that “any physician, advanced practice registered nurse, registered nurse, or practical nurse” who had a license within the last 5 years could participate in the vaccination effort, even if the license was inactive.  Pharmacists were left out of this amendment originally.  I believe that has since been updated, but what is it that we need to be doing as individuals within the profession to help government officials to understand the worth of pharmacists and consider them as a primary focus in any further legislation?