On January 1, 2020, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee (BCBST) adopted a mandatory “white bagging” policy, in which health care providers are required to purchase practitioner-administered medications through a specialty pharmacy instead of through a specialty distributor. On February 5, 2020, Aimed Alliance sent a letter to BCBST to ask the insurer to amend its policy because it could be inconsistent with Tennessee law. BCBST’s list of specialty pharmacies are all mail order pharmacies. Yet, Tennessee Sec. 56-7-117 prohibits health plans from requiring patients to use mail order pharmacies or from charging patients who fail to use mail order pharmacies more for their medications.
On March 26, 2020, Aimed Alliance sent a follow-up letter to BCBST after learning that the insurer plans to expand its white bagging policy to additional health plans. Aimed Alliance reiterated its concerns and also pointed to Amendment 1 of Tennessee Senate Bill No. 2847, which would explicitly prohibit health plans from requiring white bagging or from charging patients more if their medication is not white bagged. Aimed Alliance also shared its concerns that white bagging can create problems for practitioners and patients, including delays in treatment, additional doctors’ visits, and medication waste. Read our first letter here and our follow-up letter here.
Last Updated on May 18, 2020 by Aimed Alliance
