So I was interested in learning more and found some information. This FAQ at
http://www.filterguide.com/mederx_questions.htm
says:
Can a Doctor officially dispense prescription medications from their own office? Yes, in most states every medical doctor has the right to dispense medication to his or her own patients by law when the administration is limited to the physicians own patients and the medications meet FDA procedures for re-packaging and labeling. Only four states control dispensing to any large level (New York, Montana, Texas and Massachusetts). In these states, medication dispensing is allowed but is controlled.
and this one was interesting:
What if my patients have medical drug insurance benefits?
Given rising co-pays, prior authorization requirements and seniors' confusion over the Medicare drug benefit, dispensing is a great service even for patients with a benefit. In many cases, your office can provide generics at a price equivalent to the patient's co-pay, making it an easy decision to get medications from your office and save a trip to the pharmacy.
So I'm guessing that some programs would not allow you to bill insurance. You would only collect fees from patients.
But, this company
http://www.drdispense.com/ says: Our program offers pre-packaged medications, Electronic Billing, E-Prescribing, HL7 Compliant EHR Integration, Inventory Management, regulatory reporting, and much more. Also see
http://www.drdispense.com/programs.php
So this one sounds like you actually could bill insurance.
Do you know if the company your practice will use has these abilities?
Also, there is a wealth of information on NDC codes at this website.
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/UCM070829 According to Wikipedia, The
National Drug Code (NDC) is a unique product identifier used in the
United States for drugs intended for
human use. And this MASS state website has some good info on using NDC codes
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eohhs2t...health_provider_ndc_requirements&csid=Eeohhs2 From what I've read, these codes are not used for billing physician dispensed medications.
Thank you for bringing up this subject. Our office has been approached multiple times regarding this type of service and we've been leery of it. It might be worth investing more time on.