NCPDP Emergency Preparedness Update
As part of the long-standing commitment to emergency preparedness by NCPDP and the NCPDP Foundation, please read the following Emergency Preparedness Update.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) activated the Emergency Prescription Assistance Program (EPAP) to aid uninsured Kentucky residents in replacing certain prescription medications or durable medical equipment lost or damaged in tornados across the state recently.
Through EPAP, uninsured Kentuckians with addresses in impacted zip codes can request a free 30-day supply of the covered medications at any EPAP-participating pharmacy in the country and can refill those prescriptions every 30 days while the EPAP is active. The program also pays for replacements of some types of durable medical equipment and supplies. Vaccinations provided by retail pharmacies also may be covered under EPAP. For details on EPAP claim processing refer to the NCPDP Emergency Preparedness guide in the NCPDP resource link: https://ncpdp.org/Resources.aspx.
EPAP provides an efficient mechanism for enrolled pharmacies to process claims for eligible individuals in the federally identified disaster area. Approximately 72,000 pharmacies across the country participate in EPAP; Pharmacies that do not yet participate are encouraged to enroll by calling the EPAP hotline, 855-793-7470.
Emergency Preparedness Refill Too Soon Edit Override
NCPDP members approved the most effective method for overriding refill too soon type reject during a disaster: using the Submission Clarification Code 13 – Payer-Recognized Emergency/Disaster Assistance Request. The pharmacist is indicating that an override is needed based on an emergency/disaster situation recognized by the payer.
NCPDP and the NCPDP Foundation support Healthcare Ready’s RxOpen through the contribution of NCPDP’s dataQ® pharmacy database and grants provided to Healthcare Ready by the NCPDP Foundation.