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This bill
establishes the drug donation and redispensing program under the Department
of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The program collects donations of unused
prescription and legend drugs from health care providers, health care
facilities and other sources, including at drop-off locations throughout the
State, and redispenses the drugs through participating pharmacies to
qualified low-income persons. The DHHS would need to create a number of new
positions to run the program, identify spaces for designated donation sites,
obtain a warehouse to store drugs or contract with a third-party wholesaler,
create a system to transport the drugs from donation sites to a central
warehouse and to pharmacies or secure disposal sites, create an outreach
program to acquire participating pharmacies and to acquire or increase
liability insurance to mitigate the risks associated with the potential
adverse affects of a recipient acquiring and ingesting drugs not intended for
his/her treatment. Additionally, the DHHS is concerned that pharmacies will
be unable to determine if a person's family income is equal to or less than
350% of the federal poverty level for most residents. As there are no
programs currently handled by the DHHS similar to this program, many of these
costs are unknown. No estimate of the costs of the program can be determined
at this time. |