BILL REQ. #:  S-2246.1 

Read first time 03/22/13.   Referred to Committee on Health Care .

     AN ACT Relating to dispensing of birth control for medicaid enrollees; adding a new section to chapter 74.09 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that a significant percentage of pregnancies are unintended and could be averted with broader access to health care and effective contraception. Providing broader access to contraceptive drugs for women covered by medicaid programs could avert up to twenty-six percent of unintended pregnancies and result in an estimated four million dollars in savings for health care programs. Research suggests that moving from twenty-eight day dispensing of contraceptive drugs to one year dispensing improves adherence to maintenance drugs and effective use of the prescribed contraceptives. It is therefore the intent of the legislature to require the health care authority and all medicaid programs, fee-for-service and managed care, to require dispensing of contraceptive drugs with up to a one-year supply provided at one time.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 74.09 RCW to read as follows:
     The authority must make arrangements for all medicaid programs offered through managed care plans or fee-for-service to require dispensing of contraceptive drugs with up to a one-year supply provided at one time. Contracts with managed care plans must allow on-site dispensing of the prescribed contraceptive drugs at family planning clinics. Dispensing practices must follow clinical guidelines for appropriate prescribing and dispensing to ensure the health of the patient while maximizing access to effective contraceptive drugs.