http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011367936_walgreens18m.htmlWalgreens will no longer accept new Medicaid patients in Washington state as of April 16.
The pharmacy company, which operates 121 stores in the state, will continue filling Medicaid prescriptions for current patients.
In a news release, the company said its decision to not take new Medicaid patients stemmed from a "continued reduction in reimbursement under the state's program."
The company says that under the current payment structure, the state Medicaid program is reimbursing Walgreens below its cost to break even on nearly 95 percent of brand-name medications dispensed to Medicaid patents.
Other pharmacies have made similar decisions recently.
In February, Bartell Drugs discontinued filling Medicaid prescriptions at 15 of its 57 stores. Also that month, it stopped taking new Medicaid patients in all its stores, although it is still filling Medicaid prescriptions for current patients at stores other than those 15.
The amount private insurers and Medicaid pay pharmacies for prescriptions isn't the actual cost of those drugs. Instead, the rates often are based on what's called the drug's estimated average wholesale price.
But that figure is more like the sticker price on a car than the actual wholesale cost of those drugs. Washington was reimbursing pharmacies 86 percent of a drug's average wholesale price until July, when it began paying them just 84 percent.
