S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                  5564

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                            February 13, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced by M. of A. V. LOPEZ -- read once and referred to the Commit-
  tee on Social Services

AN  ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to medical assist-
  ance for prescription drugs

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  Paragraph  (g)  of  subdivision 2 of section 365-a of the
social services law, as amended by section 1 of part F of chapter 497 of
the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
  (g) sickroom supplies, eyeglasses, prosthetic  appliances  and  dental
prosthetic  appliances  furnished  in accordance with the regulations of
the department OF HEALTH, provided that the commissioner  of  health  is
authorized  to implement a preferred diabetic supply program wherein the
department of  health  will  receive  enhanced  rebates  from  preferred
manufacturers  of  glucometers and test strips, and may subject non-pre-
ferred manufacturers' glucometers and test strips to prior authorization
under section two hundred seventy-three of the public health law;  drugs
provided  on  an  in-patient  basis,  those  drugs contained on the list
established by regulation of the  commissioner  of  health  pursuant  to
subdivision  four  of  this  section,  and  those drugs which may not be
dispensed without a prescription  as  required  by  section  sixty-eight
hundred  ten  of  the education law and which the commissioner of health
shall determine to be reimbursable based upon such factors as the avail-
ability of such drugs or alternatives at low  cost  if  purchased  by  a
medicaid  recipient,  or the essential nature of such drugs as described
by such commissioner in regulations, provided, however, that such drugs,
exclusive of long-term maintenance drugs, shall be dispensed in  quanti-
ties no greater than a thirty day supply or one hundred doses, whichever
is  greater; provided further that the commissioner of health is author-
ized to require prior authorization for any  refill  of  a  prescription
when  less  than seventy-five percent of the previously dispensed amount

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD08421-01-9
              

A. 5564                             2

per fill should have been used were the product used as  normally  indi-
cated; MEDICAL ASSISTANCE FOR PRESCRIPTION DRUGS SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE
REIMBURSABLE  AMOUNTS  SET  BY THE COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH FOR COMPARABLE
GENERIC  DRUGS  IF    SUCH  GENERIC DRUGS ARE DETERMINED TO BE AVAILABLE
THROUGHOUT THE STATE; medical assistance  shall  not  include  any  drug
medical  assistance shall not include any drug provided on other than an
in-patient basis for which a recipient is charged or a claim is made  in
the  case  of a prescription drug, in excess of the maximum reimbursable
amounts to be established by department OF HEALTH regulations in accord-
ance with standards established by the secretary of  the  United  States
department  of  health and human services, or, in the case of a drug not
requiring a prescription, in excess of the maximum  reimbursable  amount
established  by  the commissioner of health pursuant to paragraph (a) of
subdivision four of this section;
  S 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day  after  it  shall
have become a law.