LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
March 14, 2001
TO: Honorable Mike Moncrief, Chair, Senate Committee on
Health & Human Services
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: SB556 by Duncan (Relating to prices of prescription
drugs provided to Medicare recipients by pharmacies
participating in the Medicaid vendor drug program.), As
Introduced
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* No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. *
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The bill would require a provider in the Medicaid Vendor Drug Program to
provide any prescription drug available to a Medicare recipient at a
price not greater than the amount of reimbursement the provider would
have received for providing the same drug to a Medicaid recipient plus
an administrative fee not to exceed fifteen cents. The bill would
implement recommendation HHS-13 from the Comptroller's e-Texas report.
This cost estimate reflects the Comptroller's analysis of no significant
fiscal impact to the state, however, the Department of Health estimates
that mainframe automation costs required to modify the Vendor Drug
system would include the following: (1) $550,000 for initial
reprogramming (5,000 programming hours at $110 per hour), and (2)
$605,375 in annual transaction costs (12,107,500 transactions at $0.05
per transaction).
Local Government Impact
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies: 324 Texas Department of Human Services, 529
Health and Human Services Commission, 304
Comptroller of Public Accounts, 501 Texas
Department of Health
LBB Staff: JK, HD, AJ, PP