December 17—Veterans in the Bitter Root Valley have another option when it comes to filling their prescriptions under the Tricare health plan.
Wood Ridge Pharmacy in hamilton recently regained their ability to provide services to military veterans through Tricare, the WE the army health care program and the government-run health insurance program.
Pharmacy owner Lans Richardson received a fax from Tricare last week advising that the independent pharmacy could participate in the program again, but not until the first day of the year. When Richardson logged into his computer on Friday morning, the pharmacy’s account had been reactivated and they were able to submit claims.
“We are back with Tricare and we are the only pharmacy in the Bitter Root Valley which is independently owned, which can do Tricare,” Richardson said. “The only reason I can think of is that we are under contract to provide services to federal agencies. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how it turned out. Just that we can provide services and we can extend services and extend care for our veterans because they deserve better. »
In October, nearly 15,000 independent pharmacies across the country lost network status with Tricare. The pharmacy network is currently operated by Express Scripts, a Tricare contractor. The network’s change in status left few options for rural veterans other than the postal service. The only network pharmacies in Ravalli County until Friday were Walgreens in hamilton and the Osco located inside Albertsons, also in hamilton.
A number of Montana officials, including senators Jon Testerdemocrat and Steve DainesRepublican, Representative Matt RosendaleRepublican and State Auditor and Commissioner of Insurance and Securities Troy DowningRepublican, denounced the reduction in access to pharmacies and the effect it would have on veterans during the announcement of the Tricare changes.
Last month, Express Scripts announced that it would send out a new contract solicitation to give pharmacies the opportunity to join the Tricare network.
“This announcement follows calls from Senator Jon Tester and lawmakers to preserve Tricare beneficiaries’ access to rural pharmacies following the announcement that nearly 15,000 independent pharmacies left the network in October,” Liz Timmonsdeputy press officer Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs said Friday in a written statement. “This also followed an announcement that Kroger food pharmacies would leave the Tricare network.”
“As a result, Express Scripts recently announced that approximately 2,000 independent pharmacies will join their network next month,” she said.
This is a welcome change for the people of Wood Ridge Pharmacy.
“Ultimately, we owe it to our veterans and their families to provide the best service and care possible,” Richardson said. “When Tricare contracts with one or two company pharmacies, there are a lot of rural areas in the Pacific Northwest where you don’t have a company pharmacy on every corner, and that limits services for veterans. I just want our veterans to know that there are other places they can go and not stand in line for hours waiting for a prescription or if they need vaccines, whatever they need . There’s another place they can go.”
Report by Seaborn Larson contributed to this story.
Jessica Abel is the publisher of Ravalli Republic.
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