A California pharmacy offering free monkeypox vaccines wants federal funds to help reimburse the business because payers are not reimbursing the pharmacy's efforts, the owner told ABC affiliate KXTV.
Despite help from Sacramento's public health department and other organizations to host the pop-up monkeypox vaccination clinics, Pucci's Pharmacy is paying more than it should, the owner said.
"We've only been paid actually for one vaccine. One claim went through Medicare. The rest of the claims through the commercial payers, none of them have paid so far, and none of them are acknowledging — they respond and say that they don't recognize the vaccine code," Clint Hopkins, PharmD, told KXTV. "The time we spend with the patient, counseling, the actual administration of it, that takes a skilled person that we have to pay, and we should be reimbursed to pay that person."
Dr. Hopkins said continuing to cover these costs is unsustainable in the long-term.
After months of lobbying, HHS authorized pharmacists to administer the monkeypox vaccine Sept. 30, but no mention of reimbursement was made in the decision.
"We have yet to see what plans are in place to ensure a sustainable model for pharmacists and pharmacies to offer the monkeypox vaccine and treatments," interim CEO of APhA, Ilisa Bernstein, PharmD, said in a statement.
A potential solution could be a national fund aimed at providing monkeypox vaccines to vulnerable populations, Dr. Hopkins said, similar to the federal government's contracts with COVID-19 vaccine-makers to deliver those shots for free.