Rep. Bobby Rush: “Biosimilars – Another Untold Story of the Affordable Care Act”

In a November 6, oped for the Huffington Post, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill) made the case for physician- pharmacist communication when it comes dispensing biosimilars. He wrote:

“While the nuances of the legislation and rules considered in each state may vary, one underlying issue has been raised in every state discussion thus far: the need to ensure active pharmacist-prescriber communications when it comes to dispensed biologics and biosimilars.

Prescribing physicians need to know which biologic has been dispensed to support patient care in the event that a patient has an adverse response and has received multiple biologics. This is relevant not only to retail dispensed biological products, where a pharmacist and physician may not normally communicate about the history of a patient’s medicines, but also to mail-order prescriptions where the occurrence of pharmacist and prescriber communication is even less likely to take place.”

Read the full piece here.