April 30, 2021
Provider status bill
A bill introduced in Congress would be a small but important step toward that frustratingly elusive goal of full provider status for pharmacists. The Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Area Enhancement Act would have Medicare pay pharmacists for the services they provide, on a state-by-state basis. (So, for example, whatever services Arizona authorizes pharmacists to provide, Medicare would cover in Arizona.) It wouldn’t expand pharmacists’ scope of practice — it simply authorizes Medicare to pay pharmacists for the same services they already legally provide.
