California Board of Pharmacy Seeks to Reduce License Fees Sacramento The California State Board of Pharmacy has released a proposed regulation that seeks to reduce licensure fees for pharmacies and medical device retailers.

Under the proposed fee reduction, both pharmacies and MDRs would benefit, said Bob Acherman, executive director of the California Association of Medical Product Suppliers. The pharmacy and MDR permit fees would drop from $400 to $340, and the renewal fee from $250 to $175. The penalty for failure to renew an MDR permit would be reduced from $125 to $87.50, while the warehouse permit would be reduced from $200 to $170. The proposed effective date for the change is July 1.

The proposal grows out of a situation in the 1991-92 fiscal year when the governor and state legislature transferred $5.4 million from the Board of Pharmacy's reserve fund into the state's General Fund to partially cover a $10 million shortfall. The board was forced to increase fees in 1995 to compensate for the loss.

In fiscal 1998-99, after the courts found the raiding of reserves to be unlawful, about $3.8 million of the $5.4 million was returned to the board. "Although it is unusual for licensing fees to be reduced once they are established, in the case of the board of pharmacy, they found that they continued to accrue a surplus, so they decided to reduce the surplus by bringing those fees down," Acherman said.

Virginia Association Elects New Board, Discusses HME-Related Bills With State Officials Richmond, Va. John Hager, Virginia's lieutenant governor, was the keynote speaker at the Virginia Association of Durable Medical Equipment Companies' annual state legislative conference in February. Hager, a wheelchair user, reiterated his commitment to small business, to patient choice and to free competition.

Following the keynote address, VADMEC members visited with their state senators and representatives to reinforce their support of some HME-related bills, said Helen Farrell, VADMEC president. Among them are the proposed Fair Business Practice Act (SB1177 and HB2213), which would place certain obligations on managed care entities to treat small business contractors fairly, said Bob Evans, public relations director for VADMEC. The bill would aid HME providers and other companies that contract with managed care organizations because it requires MCOs to pay clean claims within 45 days, to pay interest penalties on late payments, to stop retroactive denials of approvals, and to give providers access to fee schedules and manuals with coverage guidelines, he said.

Senate Bill 224 proposes that diabetes coverage be mandated by MCOs. "The impression we have is it will pass in both the House (of Delegates) and the Senate (of Virginia)," said Evans. "The question is if the governor will sign it into law, as he has stated that he is against state mandates."

WHO: Interwest Home Medical WHERE: www.iwhm.com WHAT: Interwest Home Medical uses a straightforward approach in the design of its World Wide Web site. There are limited graphics to distract visitors and slow down the load time of the site. Instead, this Salt Lake City-based home health care provider welcomes those to its home page with a complete description of the company and its business locations. More information about each location is available by clicking on a designated area on a map. A complete menu allows browsers to find information about and order products, with a caveat that order requests will later require additional information. Those planning to order products will have to do so without the benefit of seeing the product, since no pictures are available on the site.

The site also offers an investor relations page containing links to stock information and financial statements about the company.