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9th Circuit Court Reverses Own Decision!
(Taken from a Thu, 17 Jul 2008 California Pharmacists Association press release.)
PHARMACY SHOCKED AS NINTH CIRCURIT COURT OF APPEALS OVERTURNS TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER ON TEN PERCENT MEDI-CAL CUTS TO PHARMACY
Pharmacists Have Continued Providing Medi-Cal Beneficiaries with Needed Prescriptions in Hopes of Positive Outcome, Must Now Tragically Turn Patients Away
Sacramento, CA – The California Pharmacists Association was shocked to learn late Wednesday night that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the injunction blocking the ten percent Medi-Cal cuts to pharmacy. This news came in just minutes after CPhA issued a news release decrying the Department of Health Care Services delay in removing the cuts per the TRO through their fiscal intermediary.
In DHCS’ appeal they asserted that the losses suffered by pharmacies are outweighed by the cost the State would suffer to implement the injunction. The court accepted this argument and rapidly reversed the injunction they issued on July 11. In further action today, the court has agreed to reconsider the injunction and will allow both parties to submit additional legal arguments on the issue by close of business on Monday, July 21, 2008.
“It is our fervent hope that the court thoroughly reads the information submitted by the plaintiff’s attorney, Lynn S. Carman, in this case,” said Lynn Rolston , chief executive officer of the California Pharmacists Association. “We are baffled by the state’s assertion and know that countless pharmacies, both chain and independent, are bearing significant losses, with many reporting that they are losing hundreds upon hundreds of dollars per day. Many pharmacists have continued to serve Medi-Cal patients even though they are bearing these losses personally. We have received countless calls from pharmacists today who say the state has put them in an untenable position, forcing them, in some cases, to turn away patients, which could have disastrous consequences.”
“This puts me in the position of a terrible moral dilemma,” said Jerry Shapiro, owner of Uptown Drugs and a plaintiff in this case. “I will now have to turn away these patients, which for many of them could be the equivalent to signing their death warrant.”
“I provide medications for a large number of mental health patients who will decompensate very quickly when I am forced to turn them away,” said Bruno Tching, owner of Inland Pharmacy. “I just don’t know where they can go for help other than the emergency room, which will further compound the problem.”
“It seems like the courts, the state and the legislature will only act if there are dead bodies in the street,” said Dave Wilcox, owner of ten pharmacies in the greater Fresno area.
“The pharmacists in the state remain hopeful that a solution can be found before serious problems occur. It is becoming more doubtful by the day that this crisis can be averted,” continued Rolston.