Flinn Report. Illinois Regulation

              Illinois Regulation is a summary of the weekly regulatory decisions of State agencies published in the Illinois Register and action
taken by the Illinois General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. Illinois Regulation is designed to inform and
involve the public in changes taking place in agency administration.
VOL. 36 Issue 6
Regulation Illinois
(cont'd page 5)
New Regulations
Proposed
Regulations
NEW REGULATIONS: Rules adopted by agencies this week.
PROPOSED REGULATIONS: Rules proposed by agencies this week, commencing a 45-day First Notice period. Public comments must be accepted
by the agency for the period of time indicated.
: Symbol designating rules of special interest to small businesses, small municipalities, and not-for-profit corporations. Agencies are required to consider
comments from these groups and minimize the regulatory burden on them.
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS/RULE TEXT: Direct mail or phone calls to the agency personnel listed below each summary. Providing volume and issue number
of The Flinn Report or the Illinois Register will expedite the process. Some agencies charge copying fees. However, copy requests do not have to
be made under the Freedom of Information Act .
The Flinn
Report
(cont'd next page )
February 10, 2012
Elaine Spencer, Editor Joint Committee on Administrative Rules 700 Stratton Office Bldg., Springfield IL 62706
Illinois General Assembly 217/785-2254 ilga.gov/commission/jcar
-1-
PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
The DEPARTMENT OF HEALTHCARE
AND FAMILY SERVICES adopted
amendments to "Medical Payment"
(89 Ill Adm Code 140; 35 Ill Reg
12600), effective 2/1/12, setting maxi-mum
allowable prices for prescription
and over-the-counter drugs covered
by DHFS medical assistance. For
drugs dispensed by a non-pharmacy
provider (e.g., physician or clinic),
DHFS will pay the lowest of (1) the
provider's usual and customary charge
to the public, (2) the average sales
price set by the federal government
for Medicare purposes plus 6%, or (3)
DHFS' lowest maximum allowable
price for pharmacies. Rates will be
updated at least twice per calendar
year. For prescription drugs dispensed
by pharmacies, the rulemaking estab-lishes
either "wholesale acquisition
cost" (WAC) plus 1% or "suggested
wholesale price" (SWP) minus 25% as
the standard for maximum allowable
prices under certain pricing formulas.
(Formerly, the benchmark was "aver-age
wholesale price" minus 25% for
generic drugs and minus 12% for brand
name drugs.) Generic drug pricing
formulas from which DHFS must se-lect
the lowest price are: SWP minus
25%, the federal upper limit for Medi-care
or a State upper limit (if estab-lished).
For brand name drugs, DHFS
must pay the lowest of WAC plus 1%
or the State upper limit. For covered
over-the-counter items, DHFS will pay
the lowest of the pharmacy's usual
and customary charge, WAC plus 25%,
or the State upper limit. Changes since
1st Notice include an increase in the
dispensing fee for generic drugs from
$4.60 to $6.35. This rate will remain in
effect if the generic dispensing rate
increases at least 2% by 6/30/14; oth-erwise,
the fee will revert to $4.60 on 1/
1/15. Also, the benchmark for generic
drug pricing was changed to SWP
minus 25% instead of WAC plus 1%,
and the average of actual market
wholesale prices was removed as a
possible pricing formula. Those af-fected
by this rulemaking include
medical providers and pharmacies
that serve medical assistance recipi-ents.
Questions/requests for copies: Jeanette
Badrov, DHFS, 201 S. Grand Ave. E., 3rd
Fl., Springfield IL 62763-0002, 217/782-
1233.
INTERNATIONAL ADOPTIONS
The DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN


PROCUREMENT
The CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER
(CPO) FOR GENERAL SERVICES pro-posed
amendments to "Chief Procure-ment
Officer for General Services Stan-dard
Procurement" (44 Ill Adm Code
1; 36 Ill. Reg. 1820) to comply with
Illinois Procurement Code changes
mandated by Public Act 96-795. Nu-merous
policy changes contained in
this rulemaking include replacing the
former CPO for such services (from the
Department of Central Management
Services) with a new CPO appointed
by the Executive Ethics Commission.
State Purchasing Officers (SPOs) ap-pointed
by the CPO are required to
maintain procurement files that in-clude
bid and solicitation documents;
Procurement Bulletin postings; the
underlying contract and any change
orders, amendments, or extensions;
any bid protests and resolutions; ven-dor
communications; and bidder or
offeror evaluation materials. Other
statutory and policy changes include
an updated list of exemptions from
the Procurement Code (e.g., most
purchases of real estate, purchases of
the Illinois Health Education Informa-tion
Authority when specifically named
funds are used, etc.) and revised defi-
