AEGiS-WashBlade: D.C. Council approves AIDS pharmacy contract

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

D.C. Council approves AIDS pharmacy contract

Washington Blade - Friday, November 28, 2003
Lou Chibbaro Jr

The D.C. Council approved by voice vote on Tuesday a city contract that calls for giving a network of mostly small pharmacies the exclusive right to provide anti-retroviral AIDS drugs to low-income District residents. The CouncilÆs action reversed a Nov. 4 vote in which it rejected the contract on grounds that the pharmacy network would create a hardship for HIV patients by reducing the number of pharmacies available to them from 69 to about 20.

D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), who voted against the contract on Nov. 4, said he planned to vote for it on Nov. 25. Evans said he changed his position because the Care Pharmacy Network, which was to have received the contract, had agreed to expand its network to include at least two more Dupont Circle area pharmacies. Gay D.C. Council members Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) and David Catania (R-At-Large), who voted against the contract on Nov. 4, said they, too, planned to vote for it due to the expansion of the network.

Evans said he wanted the network to include the Stat Script Pharmacy at 1638 R St., NW, and the ProCare Pharmacy, a specialty division of the CVS Pharmacy chain, at 1517 17th St., NW. Both pharmacies specialize in HIV-related prescription drugs. Evans said many of his constituents wanted the two neighborhood pharmacies to be included in the network. As the Blade went to press, representatives from the two pharmacies said the Care Pharmacy Network was working on details to accept the two into its network, but a final agreement had yet to be reached.

City officials have said the pharmacy network receiving the contract would help the city save nearly $6 million under a federal government-sponsored pilot program that will allow people with HIV to enroll in Medicaid and obtain anti-retroviral drugs through a federal purchasing arrangement.

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