By Van de Putte H.R. No. 1356 75R17502 SMZ-D CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-1 WHEREAS, Virtually all health benefit plans that offer 1-2 prescription drug coverage issue pharmacy benefit cards to their 1-3 enrollees to help them understand their coverage while assisting 1-4 the pharmacist in delivering the appropriate medication with 1-5 minimum delay or confusion; and 1-6 WHEREAS, Information regarding a patient's prescription 1-7 coverage and copayment and other medical information can be 1-8 received by the pharmacist only if basic information relating to 1-9 the patient's coverage is correct and available for confirmation 1-10 from the health benefit plan; and 1-11 WHEREAS, Despite the effort to increase the speed and 1-12 efficiency of processing prescription drug claims electronically 1-13 with a pharmacy benefit card, valuable time and money is wasted 1-14 because of the lack of rigorous standards governing the type of 1-15 information a benefit card should include; and 1-16 WHEREAS, Many pharmacists, deeply concerned for their 1-17 patients' health and welfare, diligently spend extra hours 1-18 communicating with representatives from health benefit plans to 1-19 secure basic information that should be included on the benefit 1-20 card in order to process routine insurance claims, thereby 1-21 jeopardizing personal and business relations with their customers; 1-22 and 1-23 WHEREAS, By February 1998, the National Council on 1-24 Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) will have developed uniform 2-1 standards for prescription benefit cards that will make the 2-2 exchange of information between the coverage provider, the 2-3 pharmacist, and the patient more accurate and efficient; and 2-4 WHEREAS, A Texas State Board of Pharmacy task force, 2-5 consisting of representatives from the Texas State Board of 2-6 Pharmacy, Texas Department of Insurance, health maintenance 2-7 organizations, prescription benefit management companies, and 2-8 pharmacists, recommends the adoption of the NCPDP standards; now, 2-9 therefore, be it 2-10 RESOLVED, That the 75th Legislature of the State of Texas 2-11 hereby direct the Texas Department of Insurance to promulgate rules 2-12 to ensure uniform compliance with the standards developed by the 2-13 National Council on Prescription Drug Programs relating to pharmacy 2-14 benefit cards and pharmacy software vendors operating in Texas; 2-15 and, be it further 2-16 RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward an official 2-17 copy of this resolution to the commissioner of the Texas Department 2-18 of Insurance.