By the Associated Press
VICTORIA, Texas (AP) - Many Texas pharmacists trying to fill prescriptions for their Medicaid patients
have been stymied since Sunday by problems with the Medicaid Vendor Drug Program's automated
computer system.
"It's been a nightmare for pharmacists," Karen Horvath, a government affairs officer for the Texas
Pharmacy Association, said in a story in Thursday's Victoria Advocate.
Changes were made to the program's automated system on Sunday to make it comply with the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
The changes shut the computer system down statewide. Horvath said the system went back up
Tuesday but has continued to crash sporadically.
"It might be the overload of transactions, because of the down time," Horvath said. "There's been
computer problems before, but this one is horrendous."
Pharmacists need to get vital information from the system, including whether a person is due for drug
refills.
"We turned away a lot of customers," said Evia Flores, a pharmacy tech at Harding & Parker Drug
Store in Victoria.
Harding pharmacy owner Joe Cohen said children's prescriptions were filled during the computer down
time and temporary prescriptions were given to some adults.
The Texas Pharmacy Association advised Tuesday that pharmacies call a help line number at the
association when the computer is down "for eligibility verification to ensure recipients have access to
pharmacy benefits. There is no concrete time frame for resolution of all system issues."
Horvath said Medicaid has technicians working to fix the problem.
