BETHESDA, MD 22 March 2010—The U.S. House of Representatives on March 21 passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the 2409-page piece of legislation proposed by the Senate to reform health care.
President Barack Obama, speaking Sunday night at the White House, called the legislation "major reform."
"This legislation will not fix everything that ails our health care system," Obama said."But it moves us decisively in the right direction."
As its name suggests, a major intention of the legislation is to ensure that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care.
Some of the additional provisions call for
Establishing a program to provide grants and contracts for community-based health care teams, which may include pharmacists, to support patient-centered medical homes in primary care practices, Establishing a program to provide grants and contracts for pharmacist-delivered medication therapy management services as an approach to the treatment of chronic diseases for targeted beneficiaries; the clinical effectiveness of these services will be assessed in a report to Congress, Conducting a demonstration program to test a payment-incentive and service-delivery model that uses home-based primary care teams, with pharmacists, to reduce expenditures and improve health outcomes in Medicare beneficiaries, Requiring sponsors of Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, starting in 2012, to provide enrollees who reside in a long-term-care facility with prescription refills in less than 30-day quantities, Requiring sponsors of Medicare Part D prescription drug plans to offer targeted beneficiaries medication therapy management services that include, at a minimum, an annual comprehensive medication review by a pharmacist or other qualified provider, Increasing the initial coverage limit in Medicare Part D by $500 in 2010, Exempting certain pharmacies this year from needing accreditation in order to provide durable medication equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies under Medicare Part B, Allowing participation in the 340B drug-pricing program by certain children`s, freestanding cancer, and critical access hospitals, Establishing the National Health Care Workforce Commission to determine whether the nation`s demand for health care workers, including pharmacists is being met, Awarding grants and contracts to health professionals, including pharmacists, who are pursuing an advanced degree in geriatrics or related fields at an accredited health professions school; recipients must then teach or practice in the field of geriatrics, long-term care, or chronic care management for at least five years, and Establishing a United States Public Health Sciences Track at selected sites to grant advanced degrees; one of the goals is to graduate at least 50 pharmacy students annually.
The White House has not officially announced when the president will sign the bill. At least two prominent newspapers have reported that he will sign it on Tuesday.
