March 12, 2013—The Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) is making “significant changes” to the way that health care providers register contract pharmacies in the 340B drug discount program, the office says in an email that providers began receiving late last week.
According to the notification, the changes, which were not described in the email, take effect with the next quarterly enrollment period for 340B that begins April 1 and ends April 15.[ms-protect-content id=”2799″] The email invites recipients to attend an OPA webinar next week Wednesday, March 20 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (Eastern) that will include a live demonstration of the new contract pharmacy registration process. Instructions on how to join the webinar are included in the email. OPA advised providers to join the webinar early because capacity will be limited. It said it will post a recording of the webinar on its website for those unable to attend.
OPA began quarterly enrollment in 340B for covered entities and contract pharmacies last October. Prior to that, contract pharmacies were added to the drug discount program on a rolling basis.[/ms-protect-content]