By:  Zaffirini, Moncrief                              S.C.R. No. 56
                             SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
    1-1        WHEREAS, In its report to the 74th Texas Legislature, the
    1-2  Senate Health and Human Services Committee concluded that
    1-3  significant benefits would accrue if a Medicaid managed care
    1-4  program were established statewide, and the committee recommended
    1-5  further that the current Vendor Drug Program, with additional cost
    1-6  containment measures, be retained in any managed care system; and
    1-7        WHEREAS, The Vendor Drug Program at the Texas Department of
    1-8  Health currently processes claims for Medicaid prescription drugs
    1-9  directly on a fee-for-service basis, and recent evaluations have
   1-10  concluded that the program has done a very good job in implementing
   1-11  a variety of prescription drug benefit management techniques; and
   1-12        WHEREAS, The program is a known process that is compatible
   1-13  with managed care, and retaining the program will allow the state
   1-14  to build on existing successes, keep its rebates, and ensure a
   1-15  consistent pharmacy benefit policy for all Medicaid clients; and
   1-16        WHEREAS, Limited cost containment measures were additionally
   1-17  recommended by the committee to make the program even more
   1-18  efficient; these measures included computer-based rebate
   1-19  monitoring, which will allow the program to monitor rebate billing
   1-20  on-line, and prospective drug utilization, which will allow a
   1-21  dispensing pharmacist to be warned of other medications that the
   1-22  patient is taking that may cause harmful interactions; now,
   1-23  therefore, be it
   1-24        RESOLVED, That the 74th Legislature of the State of Texas
    2-1  hereby direct the State Medicaid Office, in implementing managed
    2-2  care, to continue to administer the prescription drug benefit under
    2-3  the state Vendor Drug Program; and, be it further
    2-4        RESOLVED, That the State Medicaid Office accelerate the
    2-5  implementation of computer-based rebate monitoring and prospective
    2-6  drug utilization review; and, be it further
    2-7        RESOLVED, That savings realized from this directive be
    2-8  committed to reducing costs in other Medicaid line items or raising
    2-9  or eliminating the three-prescription limit; and, be it further
   2-10        RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward an official
   2-11  copy of this resolution to the State Medicaid Office.