October 26, 2012—After thoroughly overhauling its web site earlier this month, Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) has continued to make changes to its online content. As reported earlier in The Monitor, the changeover occurred during the evening of Oct. 4-5. Initially, OPA included a newly-reorganized FAQ section. Several days after unveiling the new web site, however, OPA removed the FAQ section and it remains offline.[ms-protect-content id=”2799″] The OPA web site instructs covered entities to direct their questions to the 340B Prime Vendor, Apexus.
OPA has also provided additional information on its new timetable for covered entity enrollment. As reported earlier in The Monitor, OPA announced new registration windows in July that took effect Oct. 1. As of that date, health care providers will have four 15-day periods per year in which to enroll themselves, their outpatient facilities, or their contract pharmacies in the 340B program. Under the new system, the registration period for eligibility beginning Jan. 1 will run from Oct. 1 through Oct. 15. The other new enrollment periods are Jan. 1 through Jan. 15 for April 1 eligibility; April 1 through April 15 for July 1 eligibility; and July 1 through July 15 for Oct. 1 eligibility.
Initially, it was unclear how OPA would handle applications submitted online outside these two-week windows. In the last few weeks, OPA issued a notice on its web site indicating that the registration period for January 2013 had ended and OPA would accept online applications for an April 1 start date from Jan. 1-15. Importantly, the noticed said, “Any registrations submitted before January 2013 will be deleted and will not be reviewed.”[/ms-protect-content]