[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 806 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 806

     To establish a mail-order pharmacy pilot program for TRICARE 
                             beneficiaries.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 3, 2009

Mr. Bilirakis introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To establish a mail-order pharmacy pilot program for TRICARE 
                             beneficiaries.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``TRICARE Mail-Order Pharmacy Pilot 
Program Act''.

SEC. 2. MAIL-ORDER PHARMACY PILOT PROGRAM.

    (a) Requirement.--The Secretary of Defense shall conduct a pilot 
program to--
            (1) educate eligible covered beneficiaries about the mail-
        order pharmacy available under TRICARE; and
            (2) motivate such beneficiaries to voluntarily increase use 
        of the mail-order pharmacy.
    (b) Scope of Pilot Program.--The pilot program shall include not 
less than 2,000 eligible covered beneficiaries in each TRICARE region, 
of whom not less than 1,000 in each TRICARE region shall be enrolled 
under part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act. An eligible 
covered beneficiary chosen to participate in the pilot program shall be 
an individual who--
            (1) has filled a prescription in the TRICARE retail 
        pharmacy program for a medication intended for long-term use; 
        and
            (2) has not used the mail-order pharmacy.
    (c) Duration of Pilot Program.--The pilot program shall begin not 
later than October 1, 2009, and shall continue for two years.
    (d) Administration of Pilot Program.--In administering the pilot 
program, the Secretary of Defense shall--
            (1) offer mail-order medications within the uniform 
        formulary to participants at no charge;
            (2) provide each participant a notification letter 
        explaining the advantages of the mail-order pharmacy, including 
        convenience and cost savings;
            (3) provide each participant with a personalized summary 
        indicating the cost savings such participant would have 
        realized had the participant used the mail-order pharmacy 
        during the previous 12-month period;
            (4) provide each participant with simplified application 
        and instruction guidelines and such other information as the 
        Secretary considers useful to encourage use of the mail-order 
        pharmacy; and
            (5) survey participants to determine--
                    (A) the understanding of and satisfaction with the 
                mail-order pharmacy;
                    (B) the factors that motivated the participant to 
                use or not use the mail-order pharmacy;
                    (C) the specific reasons for any dissatisfaction 
                with the mail-order pharmacy;
                    (D) the extent to which the participant considers 
                the information described in paragraph (4) helpful;
                    (E) the extent to which the participant would 
                recommend to others the use of the mail-order pharmacy; 
                and
                    (F) suggestions for ways to further increase use of 
                the mail-order pharmacy.
    (e) Consultation.--The Secretary shall consult with representatives 
of beneficiary associations in--
            (1) designing and conducting the pilot program; and
            (2) evaluating the results of the pilot program.
    (f) Reports.--Not later than March 1, 2010, and each 180-day period 
thereafter for 1 year, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Armed Services of the Senate a report on the pilot program, including--
            (1) the extent to which participants increased their use of 
        the mail-order pharmacy;
            (2) the extent to which the use of the mail-order pharmacy 
        affected pharmacy costs for both the Department of Defense and 
        participants;
            (3) summaries of the results of participant surveys 
        described in subsection (d)(5) (to the extent the results are 
        available on the date of each report);
            (4) an assessment of the effect of eliminating the 
        copayment for medications ordered through the mail-order 
        pharmacy;
            (5) whether to expand the pilot program to include all 
        eligible covered beneficiaries; and
            (6) any other analyses, observations, and recommendations 
        the Secretary considers appropriate.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``eligible covered beneficiaries'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 1074g(g)(1) of title 10, 
        United States Code.
            (2) The term ``mail-order pharmacy'' means the national 
        mail-order pharmacy program required by section 
        1074g(a)(2)(E)(iii) of title 10, United States Code.
            (3) The term ``participant'' means an eligible covered 
        beneficiary described in section 2(b) that is chosen to 
        participate in the pilot program.
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