Pharmacy Question for the Week of August 31, 2020

Question:

Do pharmacists fall within the regulatory definition of auxiliary personnel under the “incident to” regulations or is this changing for 2021?

Answer:

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): “In this CY 2021 PFS proposed rule, we are reiterating the clarification we provided in the May 1st COVID-19 IFC (85 FR 27550 through 27629), that pharmacists fall within the regulatory definition of auxiliary personnel under our “incident to” regulations. As such, pharmacists may provide services incident to the services, and under the appropriate level of supervision, of the billing physician or NPP, if payment for the services is not made under the Medicare Part D benefit. This includes providing the services incident to the services of the billing physician or NPP and in accordance with the pharmacist’s state scope of practice and applicable state law.”