[co-author: Andrea Seach]

On Sept.12, 2023, the New York State Education Department announced its new plan to address central fill arrangements. The Department informed stakeholders who had submitted comments to its proposed central fill rule that it will not move forward with the proposed rule. Instead, the Department will address central fill arrangements from a broader shared services perspective, presumably encompassing shared order processing.

In its explanation to stakeholders, the Department stated that it had determined that the proposed rule’s effect would be limited by the current statutory scheme. Therefore, to better address the public comments, the Department plans to engage with the legislature to make changes to the broader statutory framework to allow for shared services, which would impact areas beyond central fill arrangements. The Department sees this broader change as an opportunity to modernize the Pharmacy Practice Act.