The Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) has posted a revised pharmaceutical price file to its Web site so parties downloading the data file or using the price calculators will be able to access prices for national drug codes (NDCs) that were not available in recent downloads from the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) database.
DWC, in cooperation with the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and the Medi-Cal Fiscal Intermediary Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services (HP), has been working to correct a database error, which inadvertently removed many bulk ingredient national drug codes (NDCs) from the pricing calculator and data download file posted on the DWC Web site May 18, 2011. DWC has restored NDCs present in the May 11, 2011 posting but missing from the May 18, 2011 posting. In addition, DWC has added NDCs that appeared in the March 23, 2011 file but did not appear in the May 11, 2011 file. It is unclear at this time why those codes were omitted. The DWC is unaware of any payment or billing problems related to the NDC codes that were included in the March 23 data file but missing from the next week’s file.
DWC is continuing to work with DHCS and HP to identify what Medi-Cal system changes caused NDCs to be dropped from the data extract files and what steps may be necessary to ensure the weekly Medi-Cal price data files received and posted by DWC do not have missing NDCs.
The corrected data file and price calculator can be accessed through the DWC’s updated pharmaceutical fee schedule Web page at: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/pharmfeesched/pfs.asp.
DWC recommends parties that have experienced difficulty obtaining a price for an NDC expeditiously access the updated data file and/or calculator and issue a revised billing or payment as appropriate.
If members of the public find that NDC codes are missing they may notify the DWC of the issue at DWCFeeSchedule@dir.ca.gov.
Source: CA DWC