Walgreen to cut Washington Medicaid Rx filling

Deerfield, Ill. Walgreen Co. said late Monday it will cut the number of Washington stores where Medicaid prescriptions are filled unless the state backs off on planned reductions in reimbursement rates. In an effort to block Walgreens’ plan, on Monday three pharmacy associations, six independent operators and a Medicaid beneficiary filed suit.

A hearing on a request for a court order to block the rate cuts was scheduled for Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.

Kermit Crawford, Walgreens’ senior VP pharmacy, said in a statement that Medicaid costs would be more effectively reduced through other means, including up to $90 million in savings through tighter medication management.

Walgreens, which has 111 stores statewide, is giving 30-day notice that Medicaid prescriptions will not be accepted after May 1 at 44 of its Washington stores, spokeswoman Tiffani Washington said Monday.

Those 44 stores, more than half in the Puget Sound area, account for 60% of Walgreens’ Medicaid business statewide, Washington said.

Bartell Drugs, a large Puget Sound-area chain, previously announced that its stores will stop accepting new Medicaid customers as of Wednesday.

According to Washington, negotiations on the rates are continuing.

"We've never pulled out of a Medicaid program and we hope that this will be resolved before May 1," she said.