More than 170 pharmacies in Arkansas will receive approximately $3.7 million from federal American Relief Plans Act funds in reimbursement of outstanding insurance claims covering COVID-19 treatments from March 2020 through May of this year.
The Arkansas State Legislative Council on Friday approved a request for funding from the Arkansas Pharmacists Association after a subcommittee approved it. early this week.
The pharmacy had a backlog of outstanding insurance claims for providing COVID-19 testing, vaccines and treatment to uninsured Arkansas. The Federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) had a $20 billion program to cover this care for the uninsured, but the program ran out of money in March 2022.
Arkansas Pharmacist Association Chief Executive John Vinson told state officials the biggest order backlog had been hit by pharmacies providing monoclonal antibodies to people who tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
In a June 23 letter to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders detailing the funding request, Vinson said that by 2021, 110 dispensaries in Arkansas will be allowed to administer monoclonal antibodies. These pharmacies, mostly rural, have administered antibodies to more than 20,000 Arkansas and “reduced deaths and hospitalizations by 70 to 85 percent,” Vinson wrote.
The pharmacy’s antibody-dispensing capabilities have eased some of the burden on hospitals “overwhelmed” with coronavirus-positive patients, Mr. Vinson and some Arkansas pharmacists said Tuesday.
In addition to HRSA, insurance companies outside of Arkansas have not paid out COVID-19 related claims, Andy Babbitt, deputy director of the State Department of Finance and Administration, told lawmakers on Tuesday.
Babbitt said pharmacies must return ARPA relief funds to the state if HRSA or insurance companies refund existing claims.
Vinson told the Arkansas Department of Legal Defense that HRSA has not reimbursed pharmacies for these charges and expects not to reimburse them in the future.
Also on Friday, the Legislative Council approved a one-year extension to the contract with consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal. The company would evaluate 18 local hospitals in 2022 to determine whether pandemic-related costs would qualify for ARPA’s fiscal relief.
3 rural hospitals has received ARPA funding so far, and lawmakers expect more requests.
The state will pay Alvarez and Marsal $1.8 million in ARPA funds to continue evaluating local hospitals for another year.
Lawmakers approved both ARPA funding requests on Friday without controversy or dissent.
