AUGUSTA (AP) – State officials said Tuesday that an alternative pharmacy program for about 3,000 MaineCare enrollees has been established now that the mail-order operation has notified the state that it would be ending its agreement to provide prescriptions for them.
A waiver that will enable PIN Rx to transition out of its MaineCare business was approved Tuesday by the Maine Board of Pharmacy, said the Baldacci administration, which assisted the Penobscot Indian Nation in the formation of the pharmacy business in 2005.
The company decided to drop services for MaineCare and close its pharmacy business after losing its pharmacist and assessing the long-term financial viability of the business, the administration said.
The state has arranged for interim prescription services for MaineCare members until it can set up a more permanent system.
A team of pharmacists will go to Indian Island-based PIN Rx to fill prescriptions and to lay the groundwork for moving customers to new mail-order pharmacies.
“We are doing, and will continue to do, everything we can to make sure that all our MaineCare members receive their prescriptions quickly and their health is protected,” said Trish Riley of the Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance.
PIN Rx had agreed to dispense prescriptions by mail to about 1 percent of MaineCare members, Riley said. She added that PIN Rx “has done a good job with MaineCare members” and that the state has not received complaints about the service from members of MaineCare, the state program formerly called Medicaid.
Riley said her office and the Department of Health and Human Services are working with PIN Rx for a smooth transition to a new provider.
The latest developments come months after PIN Rx laid off 10 people amid financial difficulties.
In early February, legislative Republicans questioned the state’s oversight of PIN Rx in light of reports it was being investigated for its involvement in the sale of controlled drugs over the Internet.
In 2005, the Penobscot Indian Nation received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help start up PIN Rx.
AP-ES-02-27-07 1824EST
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