New York Extends Drug Formulary Implementation for Renewal Prescriptions

On Wednesday, April 8, 2020, the New York State Workers' Compensation Board announced an extension of the formulary deadline for renewal prescriptions due to the current impact of COVID-19 on the New York health care system. The new deadline for implementing the formulary for renewal prescriptions will be January 1, 2021. The previous deadline was June 5, 2020. The Board took this action to minimize the impact transitioning injured workers to formulary drugs or (prior-authorizing current treatment) might have on health care providers in New York who are already over-taxed dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a reminder, renewal prescriptions are defined as those medications that were previously prescribed to injured workers prior to the December 5 2019, implementation date of the drug formulary rule. The drug formulary rule will still apply to new prescriptions issued to injured workers.

Mitchell ScriptAdvisor will make the necessary adjustments to their implementation plan to adapt to this announced change.

For further information about this alert or other legislative or regulatory changes, please contact Brian Allen, Vice President of Government Affairs at Brian.Allen@mitchell.com or at 801 903 5754.