110 HR 2319 IH: TRICARE Mail-Order Pharmacy Pilot
U.S. House of Representatives
2007-05-15
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as the
TRICARE Mail-Order Pharmacy Pilot
Program Act
.
2.Mail-Order Pharmacy
Pilot Program
(a)The
Secretary of Defense shall conduct a pilot program to educate and motivate
beneficiaries to voluntarily increase their use of the TRICARE mail-order
pharmacy.
(b)The pilot program shall include at least 2,000 eligible
beneficiaries in each TRICARE region, of whom at least 1,000 in each TRICARE
region shall be enrolled in Medicare Part B. Beneficiaries chosen to
participate in the pilot program should be those who have filled prescriptions
for one or more maintenance medications in the TRICARE retail pharmacy system
and who have not previously used the TRICARE mail-order pharmacy.
(c)Duration of
Pilot ProgramThe pilot program shall begin no later than March
1, 2008, and shall continue for two years.
(d)Administration
of Pilot ProgramThe Secretary shall consult with representatives
of beneficiary associations in designing, executing, and evaluating the results
of the pilot program, which shall, at a minimum—
(1)offer mail-order
medications within the TRICARE formulary to pilot program participants at a
beneficiary copayment of zero;
(2)provide each
beneficiary chosen for the pilot program an individual notification letter
explaining the advantages to the beneficiary in terms of the convenience of
home delivery and cost savings;
(3)provide a
personalized summary for each such beneficiary indicating the savings such
beneficiary personally would have realized had the beneficiary used the
mail-order system for the specific medications such beneficiary was prescribed
during a previous 12-month period;
(4)provide simplified
application and instruction guidelines and such other information as the
Secretary deems useful to facilitate the beneficiary’s expedited use of the
mail-order pharmacy; and
(5)survey
beneficiaries selected for the pilot program to determine members’
understanding of and satisfaction with the mail-order pharmacy program, the
factors that motivated them to use or not use the mail-order pharmacy program,
the specific reasons for any dissatisfaction with the mail-order pharmacy
program, the extent to which they found the Secretary’s instruction materials
helpful, the extent to which they would recommend other beneficiaries’ use of
such program, and suggestions for ways to further increase beneficiaries’ use
of the mail-order pharmacy.
(e)The
Secretary shall provide reports to the Committees on Armed Services of the
Senate and House of Representatives on October 1, 2008, April 1, 2009, and
October 1, 2009, to include—
(1)the extent to
which beneficiaries selected for the pilot program shifted their use between
pharmacy venues;
(2)the extent to
which such behavior changes affected pharmacy costs for the Department of
Defense and the beneficiaries, respectively;
(3)summaries of
beneficiary survey results, to the extent they are available on the date of
each report;
(4)an assessment of
the effect of reducing the mail-order copay to zero on pharmacy program costs
and the advisability of expanding the pilot program initiative to include all
eligible beneficiaries; and
(5)any other
analysis, observations, and recommendations the Secretary may deem
appropriate.