LETTER TO PROVIDERS


July 16, 2002

Dear Prescribing Practitioners and Pharmacy Providers:

Effective June 10, 2002 the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) established a pharmacy prior authorization (PA) process with a preferred drug list (PDL) for certain drugs covered under the Medicaid Pharmacy Benefits Management (PBM) Program. The implementation process uses a phased-in approach by gradually adding therapeutic classes of drugs to the PDL.

The initial phase has been very successful, and DHH is ready to implement the second group of therapeutic classes to include in the PA process. Attached is a listing of the drugs with effective implementation dates. Please add this list to the one sent on May 24, 2002. Also, attached is another copy of the Prior Authorization Request Form.

The Medicaid PBM Program is also initiating a numbering system to assist providers in maintaining the lists disseminated. You will note the list included with this correspondence is "02-02". The list sent on May 24, 2002 contains seven (7) therapeutic classes. Please number that list "02-01".

Information on the Prior Authorization process, including the PDL and Prior Authorization Request Form, is also available on the Louisiana Medicaid website (www.lamedicaid.com). This website will be updated when changes (additions or deletions) are made to the PDL. The program may also utilize the provider remittance advices to notify providers of PDL changes that must be implemented in short time frames.

Thank you for your continued cooperation. We appreciate your participation in the Mediacaid program. 

Sincerely,

Ben A. Bearden

Director

BAB/mjt

Attachments (2)


The above letter and the Preferred Drug List are also available in PDF format on the Downloadable Forms and Files page.