MN SF5123

Commissioner of Human Services must provide a $4.50 per filled prescription payment to eligible outpatient retail pharmacies to improve access to pharmaceutical services in rural and underserved areas of Minnesota.

Managed care plans, county-based purchasing plans, and pharmacy benefit managers must pay the directed pharmacy dispensing payment to eligible pharmacies for medical assistance enrollees and cannot reduce other payments to pharmacies as a result.

Eligible pharmacies must be independently owned (not owned by pharmacy benefit managers or health carriers), located in medically underserved areas or serving underserved populations, or share common ownership with 12 or fewer Minnesota pharmacies.

Pharmacies must submit a commissioner-developed form attesting they meet eligibility requirements to receive the payment, and the commissioner may adjust payment amounts based on available state and federal funding.

The payment is effective July 1, 2024, or upon federal approval whichever is later, and expires if federal approval is not obtained or withdrawn at any time; an unspecified amount is appropriated from the general fund for fiscal year 2025.