New legislation will give charitable health care clinics more resources to help uninsured and underinsured patients get the medication they need.
There's already a law on the books that allows individuals, manufacturers, and organizations to donate unopened prescriptions to free and charitable clinics. But the drugs had to have at least six months before their expiration date to be donated.
Lawmakers recently amended the law, so it extends that time window. Now, donated drugs can be accepted and dispensed within a few weeks of expiring.
Randy Jordan is CEO of NC Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, based in Winston-Salem. The group works with 89 clinic sites across the state. He says these centers provide services to more than 80,000 uninsured patients each year.
“Because as they saw the cost of prescription drugs rapidly escalating, they found it harder to begin to destroy those drugs when they knew they had good life left on them," he says. "So we are able to utilize donated drugs for a longer period of time, therefore saving money that can then be expended to help patients in another way.”
Jordan says supporters hope the changes will encourage more health care providers and other groups to donate their excess, unopened medications to local clinics.
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