Chapter 14 financial issues

The Pharmacy
Technician 4E
Chapter 14
Financial Issues

Chapter Outline
 Financial Issues
 Third Party Programs
 Online Adjudication
 Rejected Claims
 Other Billing Procedures

Financial Issues
 Third party program
 Another party (Insurance company or government)

besides the patient that pays for some or all of the
cost of the medication.
 Pharmacy benefit managers
 Companies that administer drug benefit programs.

E.g. Advance PCS, Caremax, Medco Health.
 Online adjudication
 Processing of prescription coverage through the

communication of the pharmacy computer with
the third party computer.

Financial Issues
 Co-insurance
 An agreement for cost sharing between the
insurer and the patient. One aspect of
coinsurance is co-pay.
 Co-pay
 The portion of the price of medication that the
patient is required to pay.
 The amount determined by the insurer is NOT
equal to the retail price normally charged. It is
determined by a formula described in a
contract between the insurer and the
pharmacy.

Financial Issues
 Dual Co-pay
 Copy that have two prices: one for generic and

one for brand medications.
 Deductable
 A set amount that must be paid by the patient for

each benefit period before the insurer will cover
additional expenses.
 Maximum allowable cost (MAC)
 The maximum price per tablet an insurance

company will pay for a given product.

Financial Issues
 Usual and Customary (U&C)
 The maximum amount of payment for a given
prescription as determined by the insurer as a
reasonable price.
 Also referred as usual, customary and reasonable
(UCR)
 Participating pharmacie
 A Pharmacy that signs a contract with PBM before
patients can get their prescription filled at that
particular pharmacy.

Third Party Programs Overview
I. Private Health Insurance

II. Managed Care Programs

III. Public Health Insurance

IV. Other Programs

Private Health Insurance
 A health plan provided through an employer or union
or purchased by an individual from a private health
insurance company.
 Deductible
 A set amount that must be paid by the patient for
each benefit period before the insurer will cover
additional expenses.
 Prescription drug benefit cards
 Cards that contain third party billing informant for
prescription drug purchases.

Managed Care Programs
 Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)
 Made of a network of providers who are either
employers or have a signed contracts to abide by
the polices of the HMO.
 Usually WILL NOT PAY expenses incurred outside
their participating network.
 Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs)
 A network of providers contracted by the insurer.

 PPOs are the most flexible for members in choosing
their healthcare providers outside the network but
cost more in premiums.

Managed Care Programs
 Point-of-Service Programs (POS)
 A network of providers contracted by the insurer.

 Patients enrolled in a POS choose a primary care

physician (PCP).
 If the patients need care outside the network, the

PCP has to submit a REFERRAL for such care.
 POS usually pay partial expenses.

 They all require generic substitutions except PPOs

Public Health Insurance
 Medicare
 A federal program providing health care to people
with certain disabilities or who are over age 65.
 Includes basic hospital insurance, voluntary medical
insurance, and voluntary prescription drug
insurance.
 Medicare Part A
 Covers inpatient hospital expenses and some hospice
(end of life care) expenses.
 Medicare Part B
 Covers doctor’s services as well as some other
medical services not covered by Part A.
 Patients who pay monthly premiums for this
medical coverage are covered by Part B.

Medicaid
 Medicaid
 A federal-state program .

 Usually run by State welfare department.

 Provides health care for the needy (or low income
individuals).
 Each state decides who is eligible for benefits.

 A prescription drug formulary
 A list of drugs that are covered by Medicaid.

 ADC (Aid to Dependent Children)
 One type of Medicaid program.

 Prior authorization
 Required for drugs that are not on Medicaid
formulary.

Other Program

 Workers Compensation
 An employer compensation program for employees
accidentally injured on the job.

 Patient Assistance Program
 Manufacturer sponsored prescription drug programs for
the needy.

Online Adjudication
 A process to determine the exact coverage for a prescription
with the appropriate third party using the pharmacy computer
system.
 Generally the pharmacy technician's responsibility is to obtain
the patient, prescription, and billing information.
 Steps in Online Adjudication.
 A patient presents a prescription and a prescription drug card
 It is entered into the pharmacy computer.
 Billing information for the prescription is then transmitted to
a processing computer for the insurer or PBM.
 An online response is received in less than one minute in the
pharmacy.
 The claim-processing computer instantly determines the
dollar amount of the drug benefit and the appropriate co-
pay.

Online Claim Information
 Dispense As Written (DAW) referrers to dispense the
medication (brand drug name) without substation with
generic drug.
 DAW Indicators
0 = No DAW.
1 = DAW handwritten on the prescription by the prescriber.
2 = Patient requested brand.
3 = Pharmacist selected brand.
4 = Generic not in stock.
5 = Brand name dispensed but priced as generic.
6 = N/A
7 = Substitution not allowed; brand mandated by law.
8 = Generic not available .

Common Rejection Code
 NDC not covered
 Common with closed formularies.

 This message comes if the drug is not paid by the insurer.

 Refill too soon
 Most third party plans pay for a limited number days.

 Invalid personal code
 Code 01 (card holder), 02 (spouse); 03, 04, 05 etc. (each

additional dependent).
 If the spouse is given Code 01 or 03, the invalid personal

code will show up.

Rejected Code
 Other Rejected claims
 Dependent exceeds age limit.

 Invalid birth dates.

 Invalid gender.

 Prescriber is not a network provider.

 Unable to connect with insurer's computer.

 Patient not covered (coverage terminated).

 Refills not covered (need to be filled by mail order

pharmacies).
• Most rejected claims can be resolved over the phone by talking
to a representative from the insurer company.
• Pharmacy technicians usually resolve claim rejection problems.

Billing Forms
 A Universal claim form (UCF)
 A standardized form accepted by many insurer.

 Before electronic forms were available, pharmacies were
submitting UCF to claim charges.
 CMS-1500 (formerly HCFA 1500)
 The standard form used by health care providers, such as
physicians, to bill for services.
 Used by pharmacists to bill for disease state managed
services.
 Disease State Management Services
 In-house billing

Medication Therapy Management
Services (MTMS)
 Approved via Medicare Part D and provides service to some
Medicare beneficiaries that are taking multiple medications or
have certain diseases.
 Pharmacy technicians have an important responsibility for billing
these services and maintaining necessary documentation.
 The CMS-1500 form
 Used for billing through Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs).

 Pharmacist or pharmacy offering the services must be

enrolled as a provider for the patient’s PDP and have a
National Provider Identifier (NPI).
 Current Procedural Terminology Codes (CPT Codes) provide a
systematic way to bill for the services provided.

Billing Third Party
 Medication Therapy Management Services ( MTMS)
 Services provided to some Medicare beneficiaries who are
enrolled in Medicare Part D and who are taking multiple
medications or have certain diseases.
 Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs)
 Third party programs for Medicare Part D.
 National Provider Identifier (NPI)
 The code assigned to recognized health care providers;
needed to bill MTMS.
 Current Procedural Terminology Codes (CPT Codes)
 Identifiers used for billing pharmacist-provided MTM
Services.
 MTMS CPT Codes
 99605 (first-time patient), 99606, (follow-up) and 99607
(add-on).

Business Math Used In Pharmacy
Practice
 Mark-up
 Prescription pricing is subject to governmental laws and
regulations, as well as competition within the
marketplace. Markup plays an important part in the
pricing system
 Discount
 A pharmacy may offer a consumer a discount, or a
deduction from what is normally charged, as an incentive
to purchase an item.
 Average Wholesale Price Application (AWPA)
 Usually a third parties reimburse a pharmacy based on the
AWP less an agreed on discount. The pharmacy has an
incentive to purchase a drug as far below its AWP as
possible.
 Capitation Fee
 This pharmacy without adequate controls in place to
control prescribing.

Terms to Remember
1. Patient assistance programs
2. Pharmacy benefit managers
3. POSS
4. PPOS
5. Prescription drug benefit cards
6. Prescription drug plans (pdps)
7. Tier
8. U&C or UCR
9. Universal claim form
10. Worker’s compensation

Chapter 14 financial issues

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Chapter 14 financial issues